EAST COBB, Ga. — Thursday was an exciting day for students from four local elementary schools, as they participated in the 29th Annual Cobb EMC Career Day.
“We've got 32 young people that have come to join us today for career day,” Mark Justice, director of education and community relations for Cobb EMC, said. “We have four schools today, two from Cherokee County and two from Cobb County.”
He said the students are matched up with employees based on the student’s interests, then they shadow the employee.
“We have everything from our line crews, which would be out obviously working on the electrical grid system that we distribute our power on, to the inside employees that would be in customer service or working in accounting, working in marketing, corporate communications, a variety of fields across the cooperative.”
I addition to learning about different jobs, the students were treated to a performance by Miss Georgia Victoria Hill.
“Today, I'm speaking to a bunch of cute adorable 5th graders and trying to inspire them about music and mathematics and really the importance of an education,” Hill said. “They’re excited to hear me sing today, so I'm really excited to be able to share that with them.”
The 21-year-old from Canton recently earned first runner up in the Miss America pageant. The good news is she won more than $28,000 in scholarships. The bad news is she made it all that way, then lost at the last moment. Hill said she was devastated for the first few weeks but was finally able to find the positive in all of it.
“I was completely devastated, and honestly it was really hard for me for the first few weeks when I got back,” Hill said. “I 100% stayed in my pajamas and went through bags of bagels. But I took a lot of time to reflect and do some soul-searching, and my goal for Miss America was to really have a platform on a national level to work in the foster care system, because there's so many things that need to change. There's so many people that need to get engaged, and it's really a silent issue in our country. Nobody really realizes how big of an issue it is. My mission was accomplished because I was able to get my voice out, both in music and in my advocacy, and people have reached out to me from across the country. So I am working on foster care on a national level.”
Hill, who studies opera, said she’s enjoying her time as Miss Georgia, a title she will keep until June when a new Miss Georgia is crowned.
“Until June, I'll be working across the state and across the country in the foster care system,” she said. “Then, after the next girl wins, she'll have a totally different platform and I will go on to finish my education, and Lord willing be able to perform in Europe in opera companies. I'm hoping to finish my Masters and then move to Europe because that's really where all the opera gigs are. It's really a dying art here in America unfortunately, and you have to have a good resume in Europe before you can be really successful in America.”
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