The Archie Williams College and Career Center launched its Career Conversations program Tuesday, Feb. 25. The 20-minute presentations, which cover different professions and real-world experiences, are held every Tuesday and Thursday during lunch. College and Career Specialist Lisa Neumaier first saw these presentations at Redwood High School, which inspired her to implement them at Archie Williams.
2025 marks the first year the College and Career Center has hosted career presentations, their goal being to bring real-world professional experience to Archie Williams, opening a window for students to think about their future careers.
On Thursday, March 5, the fourth Career Conversation presentation took place. It featured Archie Williams parent Pamela Hayes, the founder of Pamela Hayes Design. Hayes was grateful for the opportunity to give students a brief overview of her job as an architect and interior designer and share the ins and outs of her profession.
“I received an invitation through the Counseling Department for a Career Exploration presentation, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to share my career because I really love being a designer. I also thought it was important to be able to talk with the students about design while they are thinking about their next steps and beyond college,” Hayes said.
At the end of the presentation, student attendees eagerly participated in a Q&A session. Hayes appreciates that students were engaged and curious about her job.
“One of the questions I really liked was about how much control I have over a project. This varies greatly depending on the interest and engagement of the client and how much input they give throughout the design process. I also loved the question about what skills and experience are important for a successful career in design,” Hayes said.
Archie Willaims sophomore Matias Etura-Fedrigo attended the presentation, and despite attending with an interest in learning more about architecture, he found Hayes’ explanation of interior design intriguing. Matias appreciates the effort that the College and Career Center takes to provide students with resources that help them plan for their future.
“It is pretty helpful how our school helps us envision life after high school, and I found the presentation pretty engaging,” Matias said.
Hayes’ presentation was the best-attended lunch event so far. With student engagement on the rise, Neumaier believes the presentation was a success.
“We had eight students here for the Career Conversation on the medical field. We had two nurses and a veterinarian, [and] a good number of the students stayed after the bell rang so they could have individual conversations with our panel. It was great to see the students so engaged, and I am so appreciative of the parents for participating, you can’t put a price on that,” Neumaier said.
Neumaier’s College Conversations aim to help students explore their opportunities after high school, and will continue until April 3. She hopes the presentations will provide valuable insights and help students to step into presenters’ shoes. While Neumaier expects the presentations to continue into the next month, she is still working on the schedule, with the next topics being visual arts on March 20, and business on March 25.
