 What do you want to be when you grow up? For preteens like these, there are so many choices. Fort Worth ISD's Vital Link program introduces incoming seventh graders to all kinds of careers. Day one, how to plan a city park. The hardest part was trying to figure out what to add in our park and how to stay on budget. Even with a million dollar budget, students learn that play areas and park benches really add up. We spend almost the whole money and just left ninety dollars left. Next stop, the downtown central library for a behind the scenes look at how books get on the shelves. You have to scan them, put stamps on them and cards so people can know when they are due and when they check them out. This week long, half day internship program took middle schoolers behind the scenes at Fort Worth TV studios, even giving them a turn at the mic. It's pretty cool how you can put a background, a fake background, even though you can't see it but other people will see it. It was pretty funny actually, Larry is being on audio and actually getting to work with Israel, very fun. Students also investigated municipal court careers, playing the roles of attorneys and jurors. We had a mock trial and I had to prove that Miss Nika Pointer was not guilty of theft. It was actually fun because you got to hear their point of the story and got to make a decision. You get to find out more about that person and see if they made a mistake on purpose or not. Next stop, a tour of the Fort Worth Convention Center with a real life lesson in using math and estimating in the workplace. How many seats? How many people can we get in here with the permanent seats? A thousand? I say forty five thousand. The enormous facility clearly made an impression. How big, like each room, how much things can fit in this whole building, like the bigness, like the exhibit hall right there, so huge. City employees enjoyed sharing their expertise and introducing students to future job possibilities. I like how they set up the stage. Vital Link, a vital part of exploring careers and how school can help you get there.