Glendale students get career training through school's action lab

Valley school gets big donation from TSMC

TSMC Arizona recently wrote a big check to Desert Sky Middle School's career action lab, which is a class that gives students hands-on experience, while ramping up enthusiasm for education. FOX 10's Anita Roman reports.

GLENDALE, Ariz. - It's as hands-on as it gets, but this isn't a doctor's office or a hospital. It's the "Career Action Lab" at Desert Sky Middle School.

What they're saying:

"I've always wanted to do something within the medical field. I've always thought that was really interesting," said Mayah Luveano.

Even at the young age of 13, the eighth grader is already exploring her options, navigating different career paths, and setting herself up for success.

"There's multiple different careers, and you get to vote for like which one you want," Luveano said.

Eric Axelrod is the teacher in charge of the "Career Action Lab."

"One of the things that I love about teaching this class is I'm getting kids to kind of think about it, because really, if you look at an eighth grader, they're going to be in high school next year," Axelrod said. "You want them to start to be interested in something so they can take classes at the high school and get more, have an education on that career just to make an informed decision on whether they want to go that route in the future or not."

A student works in Desert Sky Middle School's "Career Action Lab." (KSAZ-TV)

The class is a semester long, and seventh and eighth grade students spend about three weeks in one career, learning the basics and testing their skills.

"I usually run them through four careers in a semester. It is possible that if they have me for seventh grade, they will repeat the class in eighth grade, and I let them choose one that they really like that they have already done, and then I ask them to do new experiences next year," Axelrod explained.

The students learn what they like, what they don't, and more importantly, where their talents lie.

"Well, I have a lot of things I want to be, but I know this can be something because I'm really good at making things out of wood," said eighth grader Antwan Stames.

Stames is building a wooden dragster that he will have to race at the end of the semester.

"We drew it on a blank piece of paper, and then we went to graph paper, and then I drew it on something like this, and then we cut it with the saw," he said.

A student works in Desert Sky Middle School's "Career Action Lab." (KSAZ-TV)

The lab offers a variety of career modules, including 3D printing, sports medicine (where students learn to wrap a sprained finger), video production, culinary arts, and crime scene analysis (where students lift fingerprints). Robotics is also a popular choice.

"I really like this class because it gives me more freedom to do what I want. I can wrap people, I can take IVs, I can do activities, it's just really fun," said eighth grader Peyton Massey.

Axelrod encourages students to enter each career with an open mind because they never know where the future will take them.

"I run into students all the time. They will come and visit. Several students tell me that they are finishing up nursing school, and they got interested in nursing in taking my three-week career in here. One that came back is an interior designer from my virtual architecture career," Axelrod said.

Map of Desert Sky Middle School