What do you want to do . . .

Guidance Director Dr. Joseph Connolly speaks with the parents of 9th graders about academic and co-curricular choices at RHS during their parent night entitled “Charting a Successful Course at Riverhead High School.”

(October 2006) What do you want to do after you graduate from high school? What job or profession would you like to enter? Do you want to go into a trade or would you like to go to college and pursue a particular career? What do you need to accomplish during high school to facilitate that choice? Helping students determine what it is they want to do in life is one of the ultimate goals of any educational institution, but it is the primary focus of both the RHS Guidance Department and the School to Career director Connie Gevinski.

The RHS Guidance Department is very busy meeting with parent groups of students in 9th, 10th and 11th grade on three successive Thursday evenings in an effort to arm parents with the background they need to help guide their children through this important pathway of decision-making.

The Grade 9 Parent Meeting was held October 12. It was entitled “Charting a Successful Course at Riverhead High School.” On Thursday, October 19th, at 7:00 P.M., in the RHS Auditorium, the RHS administration and guidance counselors will conduct a presentation for the parents/guardians of 10th grade students, which looks ahead at the very important junior year and is entitled “Planning a Successful Junior Year at Riverhead High School.” On the following Thursday, October 26th, they will meet with the parents/guardians of 11th grade students to talk about “Preparing for the Senior Year and Beyond.”

RHS Principal Jim McCaffrey explains, “Administrators, academic supervisors and guidance staff will be present each evening to share the academic, social, guidance and co-curricular components of RHS. This will be followed by a question and answer session with time for individual parent chats with administrators and counselors. It has been my experience when the equilateral triangle of parent/guardian, student and school remains intact, success will follow.”

RHS School to Career Coordinator Connie Gevinski is busy working with educators and the Business Advisory Board, in a careers program that utilizes professionals to both stimulate classroom learning and expose students to professionals in a broad range of career areas.


Suffolk County Police Officer Kathleen Waithe speaks with students in Jerry Wiesmann’s Criminal Justice class at RHS about a career as a police officer as part of the School to Career program at RHS.

The professionals enlisted visit a class relevant to their job (e.g., a police detective might visit the Forensics class). The professional will participate in the learning goals of that class and share information about what it is like to work in his or her particular field. Students can receive passes from their regular class to attend these class presentations. Recently, Suffolk County Police Officer Kathy Waithe met with the Criminal Justice and Council for Unity classes to talk with students about a career as a police officer. She will be followed on Wednesday, October 20th, periods 1 – 4 in Rm. 133, by a representative from the Suffolk County Corrections division.

Also scheduled to speak with students as part of the “Business and Information Career Week” is Paula Daniels of the East End Business Solutions, Beth Hanlon of Allstate Insurance (Wednesday, October 18, periods 4 & 6 - Rm. 104, and period 4 - Rm. 109). Thursday, October 19th will feature a Business Panel by HSBC (periods 2 & 3 – Rm. 109, period 4 – Rm. 104) and Jim Hightman from Financial Services will speak with students during periods 4 & 6 in Rm. 104 on Tuesday, October 24th. Finally, on November 13th, a representative from Catherine Gibbs will speak on Entrepreneurship (during period 6.)

“Local partnerships do much more than just provide job insights. This partnership helps students connect school-based and work-based learning. They begin to see the relevancy of what they are studying in the real world of work,” explains Mrs. Gevinski.