JACKSON TWP — Students at Seneca Valley Senior High School on Wednesday learned from young adults just a few years older than them that education and careers in science, technology, engineering and math-based fields can be fun, adventurous, challenging and profitable.

Of the 53 Seneca graduates who returned to their alma mater to discuss their college and career experiences in STEM fields for the school’s STEM Alumni Day, two gave their presentations in the classroom of Shelley Keffalas, who teaches pre-calculus/trigonometry at the high school.

The students learned from Ashley Kappeler, who graduated from Seneca Valley in 2015 and the University of Alabama in 2018, that their first career choice might not be the right one, but that many other STEM fields exist that could provide a perfect fit.

Kappeler explained that originally, she entered university as a nursing student.

“But I was passing out in clinicals,” she said. “The blood and everything …”

Kappeler moved on to a major in public health and studied in Ghana for a time.

“I discovered I really like living and working abroad,” she said.

Kappeler then spent six months in the application process to volunteer for the Peace Corps.

When accepted, she landed in Sierra Leone in Africa as a community health educator.

As a Peace Corps volunteer in a small, rural village there, Kappeler worked with mothers on childhood health and nutrition, visited the homes of pregnant women and mothers with infants to provide health education, and taught locals on how to prevent malaria and reduce waterborne illnesses.

As a university graduate with a degree in public health, Kappeler returned to Sierra Leone to continue her work in educating residents on health matters.

She works for Partners in Health, an organization working to bring U.S.-level medical care to 11 countries around the world.

She works with Sierra Leone’s minister of public health and sanitation, supports her employer’s executive director, performs strategic planning and grant writing, covers communications, oversees donor relations, and other tasks.

One project Kappeler is especially excited about is the ongoing construction of a 166-bed Maternal Center of Excellence, which will be a new hospital.

Partners in Health hopes to add a medical school at the hospital, as Sierra Leone has one medical school that graduates 20 doctors per year.

Kappeler showed the students a short video that illustrates her job and life in the tropical climes of Sierra Leone, which is known as the “Hawaii of Africa,” before taking questions.

Kappeler described the lengthy and rigorous process of applying to and being accepted into the Peace Corps; said her biggest culture shock was having no electricity for a fan in the hot, tropical village; named working in an organization with employees from 20 cultures as her favorite aspect of her job; and said residents of Sierra Leone know English, but mostly speak Krio, which is a combination of English and other languages.

Kappeler also said she took anatomy and microbiology while a Seneca Valley student.

“You need to have that knowledge to be able to do my job,” she said.

Allison Cox, a 2020 Seneca Valley graduate, is attending Pennsylvania University West Clarion to earn her bachelor’s degree in nursing.

Cox chose Clarion due to the low student-to-teacher ratio and because the school’s nursing program is nationally accredited.

“It’s a very science- and math-heavy major,” she said of the nursing program.

Cox said the grading scale is more stringent than that of Seneca Valley, as a score below 84 constitutes a failing grade and a retake of the class.

She described the various classes and hands-on clinical requirements included in the nursing program, and that she can become a registered nurse only by passing a certification test following graduation.

Cox, who is a certified nursing assistant, detailed her clinical experience at a senior care home in Venango County, where she gave medication through a gastrostomy tube, administered intravenous antibiotics and insulin and provided various wound care to patients.

Cox is now interviewing to work as a nursing assistant in the UPMC health care system.

“It’s one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever had,” she said of being a CNA. “There’s a lot of dirty work, but I love working with the people.”

Cox answered questions on PennWest Clarion, and the qualities of patience, kindness, compassion and empathy needed to be a good nurse.

Students in Keffalas’ class appreciated the information they gleaned from Kappeler and Cox.

“It enlightened us about the different jobs we may or may not know about,” said senior Xavier Crystian.

Xavier plans to study to become a trauma nurse after graduation.

“It’s one of those jobs where in the future, it’s not going to go away anytime soon, and it has good pay,” he said.

Anna Kalkowski, a Seneca junior, said she is looking at colleges, but is unsure of the career she wants to pursue.

She said the speakers she listened to on Wednesday gave her an idea what options are out there.

Gavin Blazer, a senior, will pursue a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology after graduating from Seneca Valley.

“I thought the Peace Corps was really interesting,” he said. “You get to travel and collaborate with people of all walks of life.”

Gavin also appreciated that the STEM speakers in his Wednesday classes were just a few years older than him.

“It almost gives a better understanding that people were in our shoes and what we want to accomplish is not that far down the road and we’ll get there sooner than we think,” he said.

Kelly Weston, chairwoman of the science department and an AP chemistry teacher at the senior high, said her department and the Science Honor Society hosts the STEM speakers.

Wednesday marked the eighth year the school has hosted the event.

She said while the program started off with 20 speakers who gave presentations only to the school’s science students, some graduates must be turned away each year because too many were interested in the program.

“Kids don’t graduate from Seneca Valley and never come back,” Weston said. “They want to come back.”

She said the entire science department helped organize Wednesday’s event, and the Science Honor Society members funded breakfast and lunch for the speakers.

Weston hopes each student who listened to a presentation learned something.

“I just want them to see all the things students who sat in their exact seats are doing today and to show them what kind of things they can accomplish in the future,” Weston said.