On Thursday, April 24, 2025, Take Your Child to Work Day occurred throughout the United States, and Paint Branch High School participated in it. As the name of the event suggests, staff could bring their children to visit Paint Branch. After arriving, kids and their parents could then participate in numerous activities, showing off what PB has to offer and providing fun activities. These included making lava lamps, listening to storytimes, reading books, watching the orchestra and the band, seeing animals, visiting the TV Studio, making Frushi (Fruit Sushi), doing coloring worksheets, playing with snap circuits and Ozobots, and planting seeds in PB’s greenhouse.
Unsurprisingly, the children who participated in the activities found them enjoyable. Health teacher Ms. Provino’s son Geo liked the circuits activity because he said he likes science and thought the activity was very “sciencey.” Additionally, English teacher Ms. Dodds thought her son Ben liked making Frushi because he gets to make and eat it, and thinks that kids like eating food. The same was true for the staff hosting the activities as well. Chef Ripley, who was in charge of hosting the Frushi activity, felt good because one reason he became a cooking teacher was that he likes people trying food and seeing their reactions. He saw a lot of kids eat food that their parents said they don’t normally eat. So he said, “That’s pretty good. It makes me feel good seeing people try new things.”
Regarding whether or not only PB, but also everyone around the country, should participate and promote Take Your Child to Work Day, it should maybe be promoted because it allows kids to see what they find interesting. According to Ms. Provino, one reason she brought Geo to Take Your Child to Work Day at PB was because of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) activities provided–and he likes science. Not only that, Ms. Dodds believes so because “it’s important for kids to see the options of careers that they have for them someday– especially if it’s something they’re considering too.”
Talking about careers: kids, while watching their parents do their jobs, could be inspired to follow in their footsteps or act like their parents. Ms. Dodds mentions that Ben comes to Take Your Child to Work Day because he gets to teach her class. He likes to do that when visiting, which he did last year.
There will probably be more Take Your Child to Work Days at PB in the future, as according to Ms. Tomas, PB’s Signature Coordinator and the person in charge of organizing this year’s event said, “it’s definitely become a little bit of a tradition, and the students enjoy being in the classrooms.” If that’s the case, then Chef Ripley would participate again, as a lot of people were looking forward to returning to his classroom to try Frushi again after trying it in last year’s Take Your Child to Work Day. So, he doesn’t think he will stop participating anytime soon.
