Program takes high school sophomores to various businesses, organizations

SIDNEY (Nov. 13, 2024) -- 10th grade students from area high schools visited News Channel Nebraska in Sidney today.

The visit was part of the  Career Cabs southern Panhandle tour.

Students were introduced to sports broadcasting, sales, marketing and news reporting. 

Career Cabs brings together students from 23 high schools across the panhandle. The goal is to place students in target career categories and let them explore employers within those fields. This year, the Career Cabs represent the trades, healthcare, arts and media communications, business, education, agriculture, and natural resource industries.

Career Cabs is an outreach of Career Connections of Western Nebraska. It is designed to help high school students identify opportunities in their home towns.

"A lot of young people want to stay in their communities if there are opportunities, but the perception is that the jobs are elsewhere. Only 17 percent of Panhandle students have talked with them about opportunities in their communities. We want to change that," Craig Schroeder, board president of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development in an August 21 article on Career Cabs expanding to a second year.

Here’s what students can expect:

  • The day starts with an introduction at the host high school in the north, central and south regions. This helps students understand what they can expect from the day. 
  • Students will then board one of six buses, each of which is a Career Cab. 
  • Each Career Cab will tour two businesses from the targeted industry in the morning and two in the afternoon. In between the morning and afternoon sessions, students enjoy lunch in the field. 
  • The students will then come together for a group session in the afternoon. This will allow them to explore different career fields beyond the one they toured.

Career Cabs are designed to encourage students toward success. The business tours show students opportunities they may not have considered.

NCN Sportscaster Randy Brown discussed what it takes to enter the sports broadcasting trade.

"You're going to spend a little bit of time shadowing and doing the other jobs: adding some color, keeping stats," Brown said.

He said one of the most important characteristics of a person interested in sports broadcasting is desire.

The stop at News Channel Nebraska in Sidney, department representatives talked about their role in the process: the amount of preparation it takes to announce a sports contest, the work involved, and importance of timing and integrity, at the news desk, opportunities in graphic design and sales. Keifer Mitchell talked about working on the design team and the various projects he does, from posters to car wraps. News reporter Forrest Hershberger talked about spending most of three decades in newspapers before accepting an opportunity in broadcasting. He said the top two important aspects of news writing are accuracy and timing.