A FEW OFF-BEAT ANECDOTES TURN CAREER DAY INTO FUN DAY FOR KIDS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1992                   TAG: 9202260055
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-6   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: SNOWVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium
A FEW OFF-BEAT ANECDOTES TURN CAREER DAY INTO FUN DAY FOR KIDS
Pupils at Snowville Elementary School learned Monday what it takes to become a TV weather forecaster, educator, minister, veterinarian - and a few other things.
It was the school's third annual Career Day program, with invited speakers making presentations in the classrooms.
"How do you know when the weather's gonna be cold or not?" a first-grader asked WDBJ-TV weatherman Patrick Evans. Evans explained how Channel 7's computers use data transmitted by the National Weather Center in Washington and how he uses a computer to draw weather maps for his 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. segments.
Another pupil couldn't understand why Evans had only three minutes to give the weather. After news, sports and commercials, Evans said, that is all the time left for weather. "You'd be surprised at how fast a half-hour goes by on television."
He told the pupils they should study math and science if they were interested in a career doing weather on television, as well as English so they could express themselves understandably during the broadcasts.
Math and science also were recommended by Dr. Mary May of the Dublin Animal Clinic for youngsters interested in becoming veterinarians.
"The most important thing about being a veterinarian is you have to love animals, and you have to love 'em a lot," she said. Since pets cannot tell the doctor where they hurt or how they feel, she said, veterinarians get clues from pet owners by asking how the pets behave.
She drew a "Yuck!" from one pupil when she showed roundworms and tapeworms in glass containers and explained how they could make animals ill. She also said vets have to check animals' ears frequently. "I once pulled a Cheerio out of a dog's ear," she said.
The Rev. Neil Early, pastor of Snowville Christian Church, told classes not only about requirements for becoming a minister but also about his secondary jobs as a substitute teacher and actor. He did an impression of Mark Twain for them.
For Phyllis Bishop, assistant superintendent for Pulaski County schools, the visit was a homecoming. She spoke in the room where she had once taught third grade before becoming an assistant principal and moving up the ladder.
"As a young girl, I always wanted to be a teacher. I never wanted to be anything else," she said, crediting her own teachers at the two-room Back Creek Elementary School near here.
One teacher not only taught her to read but impressed her as being a better rope-jumper than any of the kids. The children brought packed lunches until a cafeteria was added, but, one day when the cafeteria workers were sick, the pupils went to a store and bought what they wanted for lunch. They combined peanut butter and tomato soup mix in sandwiches, she remembered.
She also remembered the names of the pupils she taught at Snowville almost 30 years ago. When one boy asked if she had taught his father, she not only remembered the father but two brothers and a sister.
Other speakers included T.J. Cox from the Corning plant; David Mauck of Volvo GM, and county Dog Warden Joyce Crowder.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB