Job shadowers mostly excited, a little bored

Andrew Glazer and Amy R. Spurgeon

COSTA MESA -- When a guest at the Westin South Coast Plaza ordered room

service Wednesday morning, he hardly expected four boys, a mother, a

concierge and a bellhop to deliver his food.

But, then again, Gary Massey -- who is in town with the Stuttgart Ballet

-- didn’t know it was National Job Shadow Day.

“Oh my God,” he said. “An entourage!”

For job shadowing, businesses nationwide are encouraged to invite

children to follow, observe and help their employees. Last year, more

than 500,000 students shadowed mayors, television news crews, chefs and

lawyers.

The idea behind the day is to expose students to different careers and

show them how the seemingly abstract concepts they learn in class can be

applied to “real life,” organizers said.

The day also coincides with Groundhog Day (hence, the “shadow” in its

title).

But it’s not always easy deciding to bring little dreamers down from the

clouds.

“All of our boys want to be baseball and hockey players,” said Monica

Davidson, a teacher at Tustin Elementary School, which sent 30

fifth-graders to invade the Westin on Wednesday. “We thought we’d try to

move them away from that and hopefully encourage them to have more

realistic interests.”

Clad in Westin-wear beige vests, striped ties and brass name tags, the

boys who delivered Massey’s blueberry pancakes, Raisin Bran, coffee and

orange juice already appeared to have been converted.

“I think I’d like to work in a hotel because there’s a lot of stuff to

do,” said 11-year-old Logan Davis. “I’d like to do check-in because I

like talking to people.”

After delivering the breakfast, the boys exchanged their vests and ties

for aprons and chef’s hats. They spent the next half-hour in the hotel’s

giant kitchen.

“I’m not a professional,” confessed 10-year-old Nick Chronister, whose

spiky hair peeked through the top of his hat. “I can only make macaroni

and cheese.”

But both boys teamed up with John Lamp and Matthew Mavardi, both 10, in

rolling and cutting cookie dough into bells, stars and snowflakes like

pros.

Executive Chef Jeff Everts watched his young sous-chefs with pride. But

he said he would warn the boys that being a professional cook isn’t all

about whimsical culinary creation.

“They see these great chefs cooking one dish for 30 minutes,” he said.

“But that’s very unrealistic. Once you get a real sense, you realize we

stand on our feet for 10 hours a day, get burnt and cut and get paid very

little. But for some reason, we love what we do.”

AN ALARMING REALIZATION

Participating in Job Shadow Day for Lindsay Nunn meant having to wake up

at 5:45 a.m.

The 18-year-old Costa Mesa resident shadowed OCC President Margaret

Gratton, beginning at 7 a.m. She witnessed firsthand a very full

day-in-the-life.

“I’m glad I set my alarm because my dad forgot to wake me up,” said Nunn,

a striking brunette dressed casually in a ribbed-knit top, long skirt and

brown pair of leather clogs.

Nunn is a senior education major at Newport-Mesa Unified School

District’s Middle College High School at OCC. She said she hopes one day

to teach second or third grade.

The first activity in her busy day was to tag along with Gratton at a

South Coast Metro Rotary Club breakfast meeting at the Performing Arts

Center. After greeting and gabbing with business professionals, the pair

returned to OCC to attend a curriculum brainstorming session with 10

professors.

Nunn sat politely for an hour and a half, absorbing such words as

“colloquium,” “semantics” and “governance.” The phrases “conflict

resolution,” “organizational communication” and “micro-defining” shot

across the room. Nunn bit her bottom lip occasionally and once drifted

into a glassy-eyed daze, but overall maintained a look of interest.

“I hope we haven’t killed her spirit today,” Gratton said. But Nunn

seemed unfazed by the occasional banalities of academia. She said her day

of trailing Gratton gave her true insight into the realities of

employment.

“It was a good experience because I am going to have to go to those types

of meetings if I go into education,” said Nunn.”There are the ups and

downs of all jobs, I guess.”