The school's second annual career day -- and the most diverse yet -- brought more than 30 local professionals to the campus to inform the budding teenagers about the steps necessary to achieve their goals and the job requirements and demands that they will face once they are there.

"The day was very beneficial because I was never really sure what I wanted to do in the future," 13-year-old Chelsea Quick explained, adding that her profession of choice now is law.

Chelsea was one of many students who chose Escondido attorney Chuck Nachand as one of her four speakers for the day.

"He showed me that it's not always serious (work)," she said. "He was very theatrical, expressive."

From discussing the basic aspects of jobs, like handling paperwork and managing clients and time, to showing students how doctors can set a cast in a matter of minutes, several students got to experience and learn about a wide-range of careers.

For Emily Taylor, 13, the areas that she was most interested in learning about, were veterinarians, civil service work, social services and photography.

A few hours after her 27-minute classroom cram session with each of the professionals, Emily said that the day really opened her mind up to different kinds of careers.

"I really saw how it was to be a veterinarian," she said. "Really, there is a lot to it."

Parkway Pet Clinic owner, Dr. Bill Henderson showed the children different types of cat fetuses, so they could examine what the bodies looked like when they were just developing, and talked about caring for the different animals.

"You got to see the heads and everything," Emily added with excitement.

Other fields that sparked a lot of interest with the students before and after, were the Navy ROTC program at Orange Glen High School, modeling, medicine and scientific research.

"(ROTC) is not only guys and tomboys -- the highest ranked person was a girlie girl," 13-year-old Berlyn Wells said, explaining how the day broke down many stereotypes and assumptions that she held before.

"It changed my opinion on how different types of people can do stuff," she said.

Career days, a long-standing tradition at many middle schools, is an attempt to get children thinking about the future and the possibilities they have, said counselor Gail Boughner, who organized the event.

Boughner added that while she has a tendency to be extravagant in her planning -- scheduling enough speakers for each student to visit four adults, rather than the typical three -- she thinks it's important to give students as much exposure to the different fields as possible.

"I think that it's assumptive to think that eighth-graders can't think about their future," she said. "I think that it's not too early to plant seeds."

For many students, however, the day not only highlighted the endless possibilities and career options, but emphasized the amount of planning and preparation that is necessary in order to make those goals happen.

One thing in particular that shocked a number of students, was how an extensive understanding of math and science was important in every profession from photography, to the culinary arts and cosmetology.

A somewhat flabbergasted Berlyn said she no longer wanted to pursue a career in cosmetology because it was not just about "looking pretty."

"It's not as fun as I thought it would be because you have to go to school to make people pretty," she said.

- Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.