Siena Blog

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Across our three campuses, Siena prioritizes experiential learning and hands-on education. Through active participation and experience, our students from grades 3-12 are provided with an ideal learning environment for inquiry and discovery.

Two new additions to the curriculum at Siena Northern Virginia — a high school Entrepreneurship class and all-school Career Fair — have underscored how learning professional skills in the classroom can best equip students for their professional paths after graduation.

Learning Professional Skills

Siena Northern Virginia’s new Entrepreneurship course is designed to help high school students build essential skills for career readiness, lifelong success, and their annual internship.

Siena’s Internship Coordinator and Math Department Chair Justin Kanka teaches the class. Through career exploration, professional communication practice, and hands-on projects, students develop the tools to identify their strengths, connect with mentors, and prepare for internships. Here are a few examples of how Kanka’s students practice career-oriented learning:

• Self-discovery through career assessments and personality inventories, helping students identify their strengths and interests
• Understanding how to network, contact businesses, and establish professional connections
• Practicing problem-solving, financial literacy, and business planning through case studies, debates, and guest speakers
• Emphasizing advocacy and confidence-building in the workplace through, for instances, students’ elevator pitches to showcase their skills and goals
• Advancing and developing executive functioning skills (e.g., organization, time management, and planning)

Students also practice writing professionalism through exercises such as writing professional emails and drafting phone scripts. Developing this kind of communications sophistication prepares students for multi-audience writing and -speaking, business/professional communications, and presentations as they look toward career options.

Students gain a stronger sense of their career goals, increased confidence in professional environments, and a portfolio of experiences that showcase their readiness for future opportunities. “These are important foundational skills in self-awareness, communication, and professional readiness,” Kanka shared.

Practicing Professional Skills 

To let students practice this career-oriented learning, Siena Northern Virginia hosted their inaugural Career Fair in late October 2025. They welcomed 21 professionals from a wide range of industries — such as STEM, law, medicine, and education — to share their experiences and insights with students. 

Further connecting the class to the Career Fair, a senior executive from a company in Northern Virginia visited Kanka’s class before the event and talked about how students could best prepare, such as by organizing their questions, practicing public speaking and networking skills, and preparing to collect specific information from each visitor. 

All Northern Virginia students and staff attended, along with several Siena Forest Glen high school students and staff, reflecting the cross-campus collaboration that strengthens Siena’s community. The Career Fair was both a culminating experience for high schoolers and an early introduction for elementary and middle school students to the world of work, showing that career readiness and confidence-building start early at Siena.

To practice hands-on, authentic opportunities, students were encouraged to talk with each participant and learn more about each profession. “An event like this,” Kanka noted, “helps make career possibilities real for our students as they experience and learn from authentic professional situations.”

Northern Virginia Head of School Jennifer Betts added, “Having students from all grade levels attend highlighted the importance of connectivity and mentorship across all of our grade levels. This kind of professional education should start early.”

Continuing Siena’s tradition of self-reflection after experiential events, Northern Virginia students shared their feedback on the Career Fair in preparation for a future one. Some questions they were asked include:

• What job(s) did you like the most? Why?
• Who would you be interested in having come back to hear more from them or more about their job?
• What job(s) would you like to hear more about that weren't at the Fair? Who could we invite next?

Many students shared how they appreciated learning the importance of networking and skills development:

• "I liked meeting lots of different people and finding out about a lot of different jobs, but I want more time to find out details about the ones that interest me the most!" —Middle School Student
• “I went into the Career Fair to see more options I might have not thought of for internships and jobs. I learned about how some skills — like communicating in different ways — are relevant to jobs that interest me.”  —High Schooler
• “The graphic designer I met explained step-by-step what the job looks like and what they expect when you start. It really helped me understand what that career might be like. I’m thinking now of getting an internship in graphic design or social work because I feel like I have tons of experience in art and helping people.” —High Schooler

The fair highlighted the value of networking, curiosity, and professional communication — skills that Siena intentionally builds from the earliest grades. 
In the elementary and middle divisions, students practice public speaking, self-advocacy, and passion projects. By high school, those foundational strengths expand through entrepreneurship, internships, and experiential learning, preparing Siena graduates to thrive in college, careers, and life.

“This event was a smashing success,” Ms. Betts reflected. “We received wonderful feedback from presenters and students — from 3rd grade on up! They saw the importance of making connections and learning about career options. They already want another one later this year!”

Several professional attendees noted that the students asked insightful questions. “All the students were very prepared and very engaged — and not just the high school students looking for internships this year,” one career representative shared after the event. 

Overall, the Career Fair is just one example of how Siena Northern Virginia is preparing students for college, internships, and meaningful careers — while helping them discover their strengths and passions along the way.

"I love animals and I want to find out different ways I can work with animals and what jobs there are where I can do that! Maybe we could invite a veterinarian or someone who works at the National Zoo!" —Elementary Student

Resources from Siena’s Blog 

See The Siena School blog for more posts of interest, including Why Is Early Intervention Important?, How Can a Small School Benefit My Child?, and College Prep Begins in High School.

The Siena School, a national leader in dyslexia education, serves bright, college-bound students with language-based learning differences on DC Metro area campuses in Silver Spring, MD (grades 3-4 and 5-12) and Oakton, VA (grades 3-12).

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