Campbell Students Want To Make a Difference Through Their Careers

CAMPBELL, Ohio – Seventh and eighth grade students in the Campbell City Schools have a passion to help others. Whether it’s saving lives, representing defendants in court or developing a community recreational center, their ultimate dreams are to make a difference.

On Thursday, students from Campbell Middle School and the Northeast Ohio Impact Academy STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) school took part in the fourth student panel discussion as part of The Business Journal’s Brain Gain program.

The panel was comprised of seventh and eighth-grade students from both schools, who agreed that their educational achievements also should have an overall benefit that helps others.

Dezire Smith wants to apply her interest in science in criminology so she can help people. Kasharee Maddox hopes to become a lawyer in order to help people who get into trouble.

“I see so many innocent people get accused and people take advantage of them,” Maddox said.

Charley McMasters wants a career where she can help kids who wind up in the juvenile justice system. Her plans are to get a degree in social work, go to law school and eventually become a Juvenile Court Judge.

“I want to help kids make better decisions and get their lives back on track,” McMasters said.

All 15 students want to go to college. When asked why not study a skilled profession or trade, no one had a specific reason other than their goals are set on attending college as well as post graduate studies.

Alivia Miranda is confident that she will become a brain surgeon. She is enrolled at the Impact Academy and has been researching colleges with reputable programs in medicine.

“I’ve always been fascinated with the human brain,” she said.

Symone Sferra said she’s known since she was young that she’s wanted to be a doctor. The STEM student, who favors math over all other subjects, has recently decided she wants to focus on being a pediatrician. “I just care about kids,” she said.

Vincent Grachanin, is focused on becoming an engineer. He enjoys school projects that require hands-on applications and enjoys working with wood to build things. He was asked why go to college and not to a trade school?

“I don’t think I have to well maybe I should though because there’s probably more jobs out there to look at and you can go to college and may not get a job,” he said.

Reflecting on the area, nearly all of the panelists agreed that there could be more recreational activities to do, and they felt few job opportunities exist.

Jeremy Hainsworth, who wants to be a software engineer, said he would like to return to the area after college but isn’t sure there are job openings in his field. However, he likes the idea of becoming an entrepreneur to change that.

“Doesn’t seem to be too many opportunities for software or video design engineers,” he said. “If I opened my own business just for that, it could create a lot of jobs for people who may not have a job because there’s no real opportunities.”

Seventh-grader Jenuel Roman likes the idea of staying. He wants to be a police officer and a writer in his spare time. But he has bigger aspirations for his community. He would like to see an abandoned building near the police station in Campbell turned into a community recreation center, “because I don’t think there’s a rec center anywhere near here,” he said.

“People can just go up there and everyone can relax and have a nice day,” he said. “It would just be nice for the city.”

He spoke to his grandmother about it and she liked the idea, he said. When asked if he would take lead on the project to get signatures for a petition, he said “probably,” and would start collecting signatures on the weekends.

Pictured above: Students on the panel for Campbell City Schools were (front, from left) Claudia Sophio DeRhodes, Alexa Clark, Alivia Miranda, Charley McMasters, Kasharee Maddox, Joey Kern, Jenuel Roman, (back, from left) Symone Sferra, Kendall Brunn, Mihali Koullias, Kosta Patris, Vincent Grachanin, Bonnie Prato, Jeremy Hainsworth and Dezire Smith.

Related coverage:

• Springfield Students Prefer Hands-on Learning to Books
• Brookfield Students Want to Be Passionate About Careers
• East Palestine Students Share Visions of Future

Editor’s Note: Student panel discussions are intended to hear honest feedback from students on their interests, aspirations and concerns. Statements made by students are their opinions and are not subjected to fact-checking or the solicitation of responses from school district leadership.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.