NCDEQ Hosts Career Panel for Wake County Middle School Students for 11th Annual Statewide Students@Work℠ Program.

On March 9th, the Department of Environmental Quality's Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs held a virtual career panel for more than 30 students from Moore Square Magnet Middle School for Students@Work℠ Month. Students@Work℠ serves a critical role in our state's work-based learning efforts by helping local students become aware of potential careers and the necessary skillsets for those careers.

The 2021 Students@Work initiative includes approximately 200 employers and 18,000 students statewide. Throughout the month of March, students will engage in virtual programs where they learn firsthand about the careers available in their communities.

During the NCDEQ career panel, students had the opportunity to talk with four professionals from different divisions in NCDEQ including Billy Meyer, an environmental scientist with waste management, Linwood Peele, an environmental engineer with water resources, Ami Staples, a marine biologist with marine fisheries and Heather Wylie, a meteorologist with air quality. 

Heather Wylie, Meteorologist, Division of Air Quality

Panel members shared how they became interested in their career, their career path and some of the challenges while pursuing their degrees in college. They gave helpful advice for how to students can begin connecting their passions and interests with potential careers and how students can begin to develop the qualifications necessary for working in STEM fields through internships, job shadowing and other opportunities.

Linwood Peele, Water Supply Planning Branch, Supervisor, Division of Water Resources

Ami Staples, Statistician, Coastal Angling Program, Division of Marine Fisheries

The Students@Work℠ program is a joint initiative between the North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE) and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

For more information about the Department's participation in Students@Work℠ Month, contact the Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs at 919-707-8125. For more information about NCBCE, visit ncbce.org.