In celebration of Women’s History month, Saint Barnabas High School (SBHS) hosted a career assembly that included female students in grades six through eight from St. Barnabas Elementary School.
The esteemed members of the panel included:
- Elisa Alvarez – NYS Associate Commissioner for the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages. Part of her role is to advocate and implementing language support services, such as bilingual education programs.
- Adora Cherry – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Information Specialist, Nurse. She applies data-driven nursing techniques that will meaningfully improve patient care and elevate the clinical encounter for both patients and providers.
- Tasha Andrew – Administrative Assistant at Love Gospel Assembly Church; Office Assistant at Librett Real Estate Group; Board Member of Community Board 7; General Manager/Administrator for Buccaneer Youth Football Team. Her range of careers includes organizational skills and managing support for several organizations.
- Michele Harris – Bank of NY Mellon Specialist Mainframe Developer with over 25 years of experience in the Asset Information Management sector. She creates and designs prototypes according to specifications/coding and is responsible for those systems.
- Petula Skeete – A school of Cosmetologist graduate, Skeete currently is hair stylist for author and first-ever Black female sportscaster at ESPN, Robin Roberts. She has worked on projects in both television and movies. She is also a motivational speaker.
- Elizabeth Rodriguez – A member of the Crisis team at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Rodriguez is a Licensed Masters Social Worker providing mental health intervention services to anyone in Westchester who is suffering or may experience a psychological crisis.
Saint Barnabas National Honor Society members provided introductions and a series of questions for the panelists. Each participant provided insight into their particular career and spoke about what the best and most challenging parts of their job were. The speakers went further and shared life-lessons about learning to learning to communicate, being an advocate for women, and not to be afraid to reach out for mentoring help.
Events like this assembly opens students’ minds to a range of opportunities as they start focusing on college studies and careers. The group stressed that high school isn’t always easy and not to be too hard on themselves because they are still evolving and to enjoy these years. The panelists also encouraging believing in themselves and listening to God to help with their journey. Petra Skeete shared a mantra she says to help guide each day: “When preparation meets opportunity, you have success.” Words of encouragement to live by.
The students thanked each of the panel members and left inspired and thoughtful about the advice they were given.
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