Southwest Middle School will be hosting its fifth annual Career Day for eighth-grade students on Wednesday, Jan. 27. Students selected two career pathway areas to hear more information about, but will be exposed to more than 13 different speakers and careers by the time the day is over. Thirty-five business and community individuals will be speaking at this event. Randy Kehr of the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce, as well as Steve Bowron from Riverland Community College, were key in planning and organizing the program, which takes place from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Students will hear from a broad panel of speakers covering all six career pathways and then hear more detailed information in their two break-out sessions. Students will dress for success, like they would for an interview, on Career Day. Speakers in the past have rated the overall day as excellent. Students had the following comments last year: “I enjoyed hearing the speakers share their professions,” “I liked how the speakers where so connected to the students and told us what we needed to know,” and “The passion they showed for their jobs was really cool. I liked how we learned more about what we might want to do in the future!”