Fishburne Guidance Launches Career Fair

Last week Fishburne Military School’s Guidance Director, MAJ Dan Baranik (VA), unveiled a new Career Fair for the benefit of the Corps. Local area business owners and professionals including FMS Alumni met with groups of Cadets throughout the week to discuss career paths, educational options and proper planning. 

“Our goal,” Baranik explained, ” is to expose students to life after Fishburne and to start the process of deciding what career path to follow.  We wanted our Cadets to know specifically what types of jobs are available and how one goes about obtaining them.” 

This first-time event began to take shape when a Cadet shared his future plans with Susan Morrison, wife of Superintendent COL Gary Morrison (VA) FMS ’81. “A conversation started regarding connecting our students with professionals in their field of interest,” Baranik said. 

Throughout the course of the week, 73 Cadets had the opportunity to discuss career options with a Restauranteur, a Lawyer, an Engineer, a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep, a Nurse and members of the Armed Forces. The Cadets made the most of this opportunity and showed up with enthusiasm to the various discussion groups.

Franchesca Gomez, an attorney with Allen & Carwile, PC in Waynesboro, noted after her session, “I have always found Fishburne cadets to be polite young men in the community. I was impressed with how engaged the boys were in our discussion. Often high school kids are intimidated or disinterested, but the Fishburne boys asked good questions and participated in the discussion. I think those boys will be successful regardless of which career path they pursue.”

Enthusiasm for the program was not limited to Cadets alone, however. Chip Harville, VP of Marketing for Cadence Inc (a pharmaceutical and medical equipment company), explained the desire local business feel to participate in and continue the program.

Harville noted, “it sounds corny, but they really ARE our future…this is the age where young men really begin to form their views on what they want to be later in life.  They need true perspective on what the options can be and I feel that spending some time sharing my own personal and professional experiences can help broaden their understanding of the real world.”

When recapping the event and weighing the merits, Baranik observed that “the response from both our students and the professionals who have attended has been overwhelmingly positive.  One student told me later in the day, with great enthusiasm, “he really made me think”.”