Career lessons feature copter, crane

Teachers stepped aside Nov. 18 as workers from many walks of life offered glimpses of their occupations to students during the Great American Teach-In.

The annual event helps students learn about career opportunities they may want to pursue as adults. Hundreds of workers across Hillsborough County volunteered their time.

At Wilson Elementary in Plant City, Jim Basta brought along more than war stories about his days as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. Basta, who served several tours, borrowed an OH-6 from the Veterans Memorial Museum in Tampa to help illustrate his days as an Army pilot during a 24-year military career.

The chopper, mounted on a trailer outside the school, served as a backdrop for his talk.

He told a group of fifth-graders that Army pilots can be of either gender, and he encouraged girls to consider the profession. "They are some darned good ones," he said of women pilots in the service.

In a nearby parking lot, Mack McKaig of Anthony Cranes of Tampa showed second-graders how a crane lifts its load. Another speaker at Wilson Elementary staged classroom tea parties while offering advice on etiquette, Principal Gina Becker said.

Assistant Principal Orestes Mendez, who coordinated the speakers, said other guests included a health fitness expert, a phosphate company worker and the owner of a butterfly farm.

Mendez and Becker said the day was a success.

"We're talking about ways we can make it bigger next year," Becker said.

At Plant City High, school officials limited the number of outside speakers to 17, opting to dial the number down from the 60 to 100 in years past.

"This year we asked the teachers what they wanted to do during the teach-in experience," said Sherrie Mueller, the school's college and career counselor.

"Some of the classes are better to stay in their normal curriculum schedule," Mueller said. "Other teachers were able to pick a class or two during the day that could benefit from a program including an outside speaker."

State Attorney Mark Ober made the most of his time as he spoke in the Plant City High auditorium to 12 classes at once, using enlarged photos and a video dramatizing the realities surrounding driving under the influence.

"I think that I got their attention," Ober said after his 50-minute presentation.

"The film shows some sadly amusing videos of people being tested by police and deputies around the county," Ober said.

The film ends with some graphic and tragic accidents that brought the point home, Ober said.

Other speakers at Plant City High included Harold Falls, chief chemist at CF Industries who spoke to chemistry classes, and Margaret Stevens, a South Florida Baptist Hospital emergency room nurse who talked to students studying nursing skills.

"Teachers, students and the outside speakers benefit from the Great American Teach-In," Mueller said. "It is something that we can appreciate and look forward to during each school year."