By Paulette Cox
The cafegymatorium at School 4 in Winslow Township, N.J., came alive on May 21 — no, not for gym or lunch, but for its third annual Career and College Fair.
According to the organizers, Vice Principal Kevin Collison and Guidance Counselor Laura Duca, the purpose of this day was to expose students to the many career options available to them.
Thirty different professionals, including myself, a court reporter, were present. The students were amazed at seeing the words they spoke appear instantaneously on the computer screen. Then after a pause, the word that came out was “cool” and then the questions came rolling, “How did you do that? How do you know what keys to strike?”
Since keyboarding is being taught at the elementary level now, most of them understood the term home keys, so I showed them what that looks like all in one stroke, did their ABCs, and one two three for the younger ones.
Best of all, Mark Kislingbury, RDR, CRR, who holds the Guinness World Record as the fastest writer, sent them a videotaped message on what he had to do to become the world record holder. Veritext also provided goodies for the students. A very special thanks to them for their support.
More than 500 students received the opportunity to learn a little about our profession, so hopefully some will decide on this as a career in the future.
Other professions also wandered over to see and talk.
Paulette Cox, a court reporter from Sicklerville, N.J., can be reached at plttknigh39@gmail.com.
