The headline for this week's article is a variation of the one I used for my Nov. 17, 2006 column titled "Suppose they gave a Career Day and nobody came?" Things are looking up.

It appears that this year's effort was quite a success. I don't know the correct count but there seemed to be a lot more volunteers this year than I've seen in the past five years.

It's only fair, after having written two columns bemoaning the lack of participation, to thank and to commend all of those who gave their time this year. Special thanks should go to Diana Prickett and all of the folks who help her put this together. It's people like these who never get enough credit for helping our children and our community.

It was quite a nice day. As we all assembled and waited for our assignments, we received a little packet of information. In this packet there was a list of the Career Day choices the students could choose from. There were eighty careers listed this year. Eighty!

There were peace officers, firefighters, nurses, physical therapists, dentists, chiropractors, soldiers, sailors, paramedics and airmen. I was thinking that I never want to live through another major earthquake, but if it has to happen, sometime in the next two hours would be nice. There were engineers, scientists, teachers, artists, dancers, photographers, business people, managers, and a host of others.

Many of these people have very busy schedules and were still kind enough and caring enough to give of their time.

Even our own Moorpark Acorn editor was there. I was only guessing about the others, but I know Mr. Carlson is a busy man. Every time I call to talk to him, they say, "He's right here. Who's calling?" I give them my name and before Mr. Carlson can even get to the phone someone always comes back on the line and says, "He's busy now and will be for the rest of the day; and probably will be all day tomorrow as well." Yet, he still had time for our kids.

I don't know about the other participants, but I found all kinds of neat things that I might want to try when I grow up. I hope the kids got something out of it too.

I think the students get a lot out of something like this. It's hard to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life. I know that many of the students I talked to were happy for the chance to listen to someone talk about something they enjoy doing. You can tell it by the look in their eyes as they raise their heads from their arms folded on the table. You can tell by the way they listen intently to your words once they've read the note and passed it on.

No, I'm only kidding. Most of the students I spoke to seemed generally interested, listened well and asked intelligent and meaningful questions. There was not a single projectile, snicker, or accidentally dropped book the entire time. I'm pretty sure that would not have been true, had our roles been reversed. I heard the same thing from several of the other participants.

I'm certain that many of these young people will be successful and happy later on in life. I'd like to think that a few of them will be happier than they might have been because some of the folks who volunteered to participate this year lit a spark or kindled a greater interest in a field that the students can spend a lifetime enjoying rather than just a job they have to go to every day.

I hope to see you there next year.