This week, Career Research Academy (CRA) hosted a Mock Interview Day. Students had the opportunity to participate in a ‘real feel’ practice job interview with various professionals from the community. To prepare, they had several lessons in interviewing skills with Social Studies teacher Anthony Marinaccio, followed by two weeks of instruction on resume building and cover letter writing with WHS English teacher Vincent Iovane. Next, they completed job applications and presented them, along with their resumes and cover letters to a panel of professionals, in an attempt to land their desired “job” after high school. Interviewers were Sal Pennelle from the Town of Mount Pleasant Building Dept, Steve Willard, CEO of Ward Carpenter Engineers and Ray Santucci, partner at Briarcliff Autobody. The students dressed the part and put forth their best impressions as they sat for their mock interviews.
WHS School Counselor Nick Dipaolo said, “This project marks another important step in achieving one of the key components of the CRA, to help students become career literate and build the best soft skills they can, ensuring they are marketable experts for the industries they want to pursue. We are grateful to Mr. Pennelle, Mr. Willard, and Mr. Santucci for taking this time out of their very busy days to spend with our students.”