Brockway Students Get Interview Experience

BROCKWAY, Pa. (EYT) – Brockway Area Junior-Senior High School gave its juniors a taste of real-world interviews as part of their graduation projects.

The junior mock interview is part of a Brockway student’s graduation project. The school brought in County Commissioners Jeff Pisarchick, Herb Bullers, and Jack Matson were there along with Meggan Matson, Molly McNutt, Steve Zarlinski, Dan Hawkins, and Jeff Vizza.

“This is the third year we’ve done this,” Pisarchick said. “The students get better every year.”
Brockway Junior English Teacher Justin Parson coordinates the event and guides his students through the process. One of his more-popular activities was based on an old “Animaniacs” cartoon segment called “Good Idea/Bad Idea.”

Justin Parson (right) talks to Brockway students about their interviews.

Parson has students research various skills associated with interviews and then asks them to create videos comparing the right way and wrong way. Students become so excited about their segments that they often share them with other teachers and students who are not in their classes.

“The pragmatic reason we do this, obviously, is to be able to find jobs, but it also allows them to learn about themselves,” Parson explained. “It helps them to self-identify who they are, what their characteristics are.”

Parson also goes over the practical aspects of preparing for a job. They go over how to create a resume and cover letter as well as how to conduct themselves in an interview.

The mock interview is one way Brockway prepares its students for their futures. Another way is the Dale Carnegie Course offered with DuBois Central Catholic High School. Matson felt that these opportunities show as students who have taken more of what Brockway has to offer come off as better future employees.

“You can really tell the kids who have done Dale Carnegie,” Matson said. “They’re far more confident and prepared than the students who haven’t taken it.”

Jefferson County Supervisor Jack Matson takes a resume from Brockway junior Mariah Alanskas

Justice Williams, who interviewed with McNutt, said she felt that her interviewer was actually interested in what she wanted to say.”

“The whole interview went really well,” Williams said. “She was really sweet. She said I have a positive outlook on life. She also gave me some really good advice, which I wasn’t expecting. Even though she’s not in the same field I plan on going into, she seemed to know what she was talking about.”

Taylor Little found that her plans to travel connected with her interviewer, Pisarchick.

“We talked about Germany,” Little said. “He said that it’s great that kids have the chance to see Germany. I had fun.”

Sylvia Pisarchick met with Jack Matson.

“I was actually really nervous at first,” she said. “It was fine when I got there. I calmed down and he really didn’t ask any hard questions. We talked about what I want to do for my career, and where I want to be in five years. He said I’d have no problems getting a job.”

Pisarchick and Little agreed that some of the interview questions were a little tricky.

“He asked me, if you were to be a vegetable, what would you be?” Pisarchick said. She said she had to think about it and then came up with her answer: “I said I’d be broccoli. It looks gross on the outside, but it’s really not that bad once you eat it. Sometimes people judge things too quickly when they shouldn’t.”

“He asked me, ‘If you were a crayon, what would it be?’” Little said. “I would be yellow because it’s bright and everyone wants a bright future.” Little also had to field the vegetable question: “I came up with corn. It’s sweet, bright, and the same color I’d pick as a crayon. Then I panicked if corn is actually a vegetable!”

Fortunately, corn is a vegetable, whole grain, and a fruit, according to Good Housekeeping.

The interviewers had a rubric to complete. Students waited anxiously for the results.

“I hope they find it a valuable life experience,” Parson said. “They find that they can interact with adults who aren’t their parents or teachers, and they can hold themselves with poise and confidence.”