They say when you can’t breathe nothing else matters. Madison Bower would agree.

About a year ago, the athletic and fit student at Saint Michael Catholic High School was participating in athletic activities when suddenly she just couldn’t get enough oxygen.

“I was playing hockey and out of nowhere it was like, ‘I can’t breathe,’ she said.

The mile-long races became ordeals that sent her home in tears, struggling to breathe.

Eventually, she had a full-blown asthma attack and had to be hospitalized overnight, which led to appointments with doctors specializing in lung and lung issues which ultimately resulted in a diagnosis of asthma.

When she and other French grade 10 students in Saint Michael were accused by teacher Antoinette Lambert of examining possible careers at an annual French career fair, Bower decided to become pulmonologist, also known as pulmonologist.

“I thought, wow, that would be such a cool job to have,” she told the school on Monday, after the students had job “interviews” with Lambert in French and put up posters. career in the main hall. If she could help someone avoid what she’s been through, Bower thinks it would be a rewarding career.

“I wouldn’t want anyone to have to go through what I went through because it was really, really terrible,” she said.

Lambert, who also had the students’ curriculum vitae tinkered withés and write cover letters, said the fair was a chance for students to put the French skills they honed under his tutelage to a test similar to what it would be in the real world.

“Confidence in their communication skills is paramount and an integral part of their learning,” she said. “My motto is ‘L’ to the power of three: learn it, live it, love it.”

Student Lucas Beu focused on a possible career in real estate, triggered in part by Niagara’s searing real estate market. “You hurry, you sell the house and you make money,” he said.

But in addition to opening many doors in government and private sector jobs, Beu said mastering French also opens doors around the world. “There are 200 million people in the world who speak French,” he said. “Fifty-three countries have French as an official language.

This is something Lambert tries to point out to his students. “In our global economic global market, French is truly a transferable life skill,” she said.

Among careers ranging from lawyers to animation, Saint Michael students also envision career paths they are passionate about. For Yuana Ng, it is being a veterinarian even if that would mean many years of study at the university.

“I really love animals: I have always been connected to nature and to animals,” she said.

Another student, Julia Schwegler, believes that there is no higher calling than becoming a registered nurse. She said the huge role nurses played in responding to the pandemic, and how most people now see them as frontline heroes, played a big part in that.

“It was really cool to see how crucial nurses are,” she said. “Before the pandemic, I didn’t know the huge role they play. It’s really important for the next generation to want this job, to want to help.