>>Narrator: How do I know which path is best for me?

Is it possible to take on these challenges and obstacles?

Where do I even start?

What should I do with my life?

Sometimes, the only way to find out is to go see what's possible Since 2001, we've been sharing the stories of people who ventured out and explored different career paths and different possibilities for their futures.

This is one of those stories.

This is Roadtrip Nation.

[MUSIC] >> Christiana: It's like a lime green, wow.

>> Jaden: It's cute, why is it actually cute, wait?

>> Christiana: Can we go in?

>> Jaden: It looks like a spaceship.

>> Christiana: Wow, it's actually nicer in here than I thought.

Look at the messages.

>> Jaden: So we're about to embark on this crazy road trip.

>> Luis: Oh my.

>> Jaden: [LAUGH] >> Luis: She's on the ladder [LAUGH].

She's going up.

Welcome to McDonald's, what can I get you?

>> Jaden: [LAUGH] Wait you have burgers?

>> Luis: No.

>> Christiana: I could check in the back.

>> Luis: All right, she's gonna check in the back.

Guess, she didn't want the- >> Christiana: Bad customer service, I guess.

>> Luis: Exactly.

Christiana, Jaden, and I are gonna jump in a bright green RV.

>> Christiana: Driving around, showcase local heroes, and how they make a difference in the community.

>> Narrator: As the three road trippers travel throughout southeast Pennsylvania in the Big Green RV, they'll be taking turns exploring different industries and meeting with different people.

Based on their interests and their school and work schedules.

>> Luis: So we're gonna be talking to people in five different industries.

>> Christiana: Clean energy.

>> Jaden: Infrastructure.

>> Luis: Life sciences.

>> Christiana: Manufacturing and education.

I love my city, I love my people, and I hope you can love it too.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christiana: So, me and Jaden are both from Philly, and Luis is from Norristown area.

So we may have some type of beef, who knows?

But I think we'll have really great chemistry and dynamics.

So for this road trip, we'll be going to, of course, Philadelphia County.

>> Luis: Montgomery County, Delaware County.

>> Christiana: Berks County and Bucks County, and Chester County.

[MUSIC] >> Jaden: Was Temple your top choice or what was your top school?

>> Luis: To be honest I didn't have a top school.

>> Christiana: Same, I didn't have a top school either.

>> Luis: I was just kinda looking around.

>> Jaden: I feel like I didn't have a dream school, I was scared of getting disappointed.

Cuz it was like the financial side of it.

Because with FAFSA and everything, it sucks for us.

>> Christiana: I feel that.

>> Jaden: It's tricky, it's really tricky now too, especially because, for me, my parents I don't know, I think it's just more difficult when your parents don't really know as much about it.

>> Christiana: But if you think about it, you've already accomplished a lot.

You're graduating with like a high school diploma and an associate's degree, so that's even more than what your parents did.

>> Luis: That's amazing.

>> Christiana: Yeah.

>> Luis: I was surprised when I first heard that, I was what?

That's crazy.

>> Jaden: Thank you, I appreciate that.

[MUSIC] >> Jaden: Hi, I'm Jaden Scheib I'm 18.

I just recently graduated from high school, and I'm from North Philly.

So for me, it's like I've been on a pathway to just go to school.

And for me, it's been a journey trying to figure out, do I actually really want this, or is this to sort of meet certain benchmarks that my parents have set?

I'm actually not set on my career.

I went through four major changes in terms of, like, college majors.

I was like, I want to do a pharmaceutical doctorate.

I want to do chemical engineering, I want to do this.

And I'm like, I don't even know if I really wanna do this.

I'm also curious about how people are financially, are they satisfied with how much they're making?

Does it make sense to go down this path of going into debt.

So for me, I'm excited to just learn about different avenues and career paths that I may not have known about before.

And for me, since I love science, it's cool to see what I can combine my love of STEM with in other industries.

Oh, I don't read, it literally the inspiration on the top.

>> Christiana: Yeah.

>> Jaden: I didn't read.

>> Christiana: Chicken Soup for the Soul inspiration, you don't know what Chicken Soup for the Soul is?

>> Jaden: No, I've never seen these.

>> Christiana: You guys are making me feel old.

>> Jaden: Are these like in a grocery store, type thing?

Is that where they're usually at?

>> Christiana: No, it used to be these books.

I feel so old.

>> Jaden: You're not, I just didn't know.

[MUSIC] >> Jaden: Let me not crash, I don't have my license.

I don't even have a permit.

I don't know if I should be driving this.

Luis, go.

>> Luis: Oh, my bad.

So my name is Luis Sanchez-Velasco.

I'm from Norristown, Pennsylvania, and I am 19 years old.

Right now I'm working as a tutor for a non-profit where we help kids with their homework.

And I just finished my first year at Temple University.

I wanna teach eighth grade, but I'm open to eighth through high school.

The first time I worked with kids, I just fell in love with the environment.

When I was younger I didn't know English and I found it really hard to socialize.

I was really shy and quiet, but kind of grew out of my bubble a little bit.

And I'm gonna be a teacher.

I need to be sure of myself I need to be able to talk to large amounts of people.

And I've been in Norristown most of my life so I hope to walk away with a new point of view, expand my horizons.

>> Jaden: So Luis, when he said that he was shy I knew from that moment the second that came out of his mouth, okay I have to be the most annoying person around this man.

Cuz I think, if someone's shy, annoying them actually can sometimes make them talk more.

I cooked y'all bad!

>> Christiana: You was, speeding through every turn.

>> Jaden: And who don't even have a permit?

>> Luis: I'll give that to her, she's very funny.

>> Jaden: I cooked, I cooked.

[MUSIC] >> Christiana: No, it wasn't good, it wasn't good, I wasn't ready.

[MUSIC] >> Luis: Oh, that looks beautiful!

Just like you said down the middle.

>> Christiana: My name is Christiana, I am 21 years old.

I'm from South Philadelphia.

I'm a recent graduate, received my bachelor's in environmental studies.

My parents are two immigrants, my mom from Jamaica and my father from Nigeria.

I noticed that in environmental studies that people who are most susceptible to the climate crisis are people of color.

All throughout my life, I always wanted to understand why were parks so far away.

Our transportation at times were so underfunded, and my hopes and goals for this trip is to be able to be inspired by the local heroes here to protect communities of color and also be that voice to make that change.

[MUSIC] >> Luis and Jaden: One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.

[MUSIC] >> Jaden: [LAUGHS] >> Luis: Let's go.

>> Crew: Oh!

>> Luis: Nothing to do with it.

>> Christiana: Why is our hands so.

>> Luis: Why are you raising it?

>> Christiana: No!

>> Luis: One, two, three, yes!

Let's go.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christiana: So today we're gonna be interviewing Elizabeth at Eurofins, who's the director of microbiology.

So it's right kind of up your alleyway and she worked in a laboratory.

>> Jaden: Yeah, I'm actually really excited.

I actually interned at UPenn in the biology lab.

It's really cool to see another woman of color that's in like the stem space.

She's in a unique area like Lancaster is very historical, you think it's all buggies out here and she's doing medical device testing.

>> Luis: I also wanna learn about her journey because I read that she's a vet, serving our country.

I just wanna see her transition.

>> Elizabeth: Hello, welcome to Eurofins.

So glad you guys came out to see the lab, nice to meet you.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: Southeast Pennsylvania is home to a range of health and life sciences facilities.

From world-class hospitals and research centers to community clinics and specialized medical practices.

This sector is doing more than just providing care.

It's driving innovation to enhance the quality of life for local residents.

>> Jaden: [LAUGHS] >> Narrator: So to explore the variety of careers within this industry, the roadtrippers met two people, who are on extremely different paths within health and life sciences, while both working to improve lives in their own ways.

>> Elizabeth: So this is the actual lab.

We have a little bit of everything going on right now.

>> Jaden: I'm so locked in.

>> Christiana: You are.

>> Elizabeth: I'm Liz Sydnor, I'm Director of Med Device Microbiology here at Eurofins in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

I've been in this industry for about 20 years.

I started in the military doing chemical testing, working with aviation.

Now I do microbiology, specifically focusing on medical devices.

>> Christiana: What is your favorite thing about being a microbiologist?

>> Elizabeth: I think I just like saying it [LAUGH].

No, I love microorganisms, it sounds so silly, but when you work in the lab, you get very, very closely connected with bacteria.

And I love the different shapes that it creates, I love the way that it grows.

It's a living organism, whether we know it or not, it's on our skin, it's part of our life, and so we do wanna keep the bad microbiology off of people and out of people.

>> Narrator: To get a different perspective on the industry, Luis set out on his own to meet with adventure therapist Jan Bookwalter.

>> Jan: My name is Jan, and I am an adventure therapist here at Center for Families.

My background is in recreational therapy.

>> Luis: For anyone that doesn't know what that means, can you elaborate what recreational therapy is?

>> Jan: Yeah, so adventure therapy is a part of recreational therapy.

A recreational therapist is someone who uses all kinds of recreation to do therapy, not only mental health, but it is also physical health as well.

It can be art, it can be music, it can be sports activities, hiking, that kinda thing.

And I really love working with teens in mental health, which is a population that we work with here.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: In Southeast Pennsylvania, there are two major sectors within the health and life sciences industry.

The first sector is Research and Development which includes Liz's work.

In this field, you may find yourself working in a lab or research facility, doing experiments, collecting data, and creating products and processes that help keep everyone healthy.

>> Luis: Can you talk to us a little bit of what your day-to-day looks like?

>> Elizabeth: Yes, so every type of medical device has to be tested per the FDA's regulation and requirement.

And with microbiology, specifically, we're making sure that microbial contamination is minimal.

What happens is these devices go down into a hospital basement and they may sit down there dirty for a couple of hours.

And so it's very easy to clean a device if it's already wet, but it's much harder to get this proteins and all the blood off a device if it's caked on there and it's dry.

And so this is called simulated use.

And so what Kyle is doing right now is soiling his hands just as if a surgeon is in surgery his hands would be soiled and he would be handling these devices.

And so he's using some sheep blood and then we would allow it to dry for a period of time and then we would clean it.

We all use medical devices in some way or another, whether it's our contact lenses, going to the dentist, going to the doctor.

Knowing that what I do is actually impacting my friends, my family, people who I don't know, it's a really nice feeling to be a part of something like that.

>> Narrator: Every day looks different for Jan too, she works within a sector called HealthCare and Social Assistance.

Careers in this sector often involve working directly with patients or clients in all sorts of environments.

And with a job title like adventure therapist, Jan's work environment is definitely unique >> Jan: I see this a lot with adventure therapy, is that, kids who are really struggling and are really anxious about trying new things, making those social connections.

They get into adventure therapy, they're doing an activity that might be new for them.

I see this a lot with rock climbing, where the kids just say, okay, I'm gonna try it.

And they come out of there and go, that was the best thing ever [LAUGH] I wanna do that again.

Those are the times when it's incredibly fulfilling for me to see.

>> Luis: Wow, that's really beautiful.

>> Jan: Yeah, it is, I love it.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: Healthcare and social assistant jobs are projected to grow by 10% over the next several years, making it one of the regions fastest growing sectors.

Close to 7,000 new healthcare and social assistance jobs are being posted every month in Southeast Pennsylvania.

The average local salary for jobs in healthcare and social assistance is $74,884.

For the research and development sector, the average local salary is $191,605.

And research and development in the life sciences is projected to grow by 7% locally over the next several years.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: When you hear about careers in health or health care, you might think you need years and years of expensive education to get your foot in the door, but there are lots of roads into this industry.

For some jobs, you may need a bachelor's degree or beyond.

While for others, you can earn certifications or even on the job training through alternate routes, like the military.

Both Jan and Liz have bachelor's degrees, but they took their own individualized paths to and through their post secondary education.

>> Jan: I thought I was gonna go into business or something common that people hear about a lot.

And I could not see myself sitting in an office all day, and found a thing called recreational therapy, I had no idea that existed, like what it was.

And so I looked into it and thought, this is awesome, I can play and get paid [LAUGH].

>> Luis: So how was the transition from being in the military to back to school?

>> Elizabeth: So I joined the army right out of high school.

I started out the same way a lot of our scientists in the lab, I started out working in the lab, really, just long hours.

I was always, always kind of being the person who was willing to kinda do the extra.

And so I had an opportunity to kinda lead the medical device microbiology team.

And so someone reached out, and I knew it was an opportunity.

It was a little bit scary, to be honest, but I knew that I had the tools to do the job.

>> Christiana: What advice do you have for us as we're early career seekers going into the workforce?

>> Elizabeth: Sometimes it seems like the path is not really clear, right?

You don't really know how you're gonna get there.

One of the things I consistently did was just kept going, just kept doing something with a goal in mind.

That I wanna be a scientist, and so put yourself in spaces that may be a little bit above and beyond.

Ask for help, ask for opportunities, make connections and speak to people, and what you surround yourself with will impact what you end up becoming.

>> Jaden: Liz, my gosh, she has serious grit, and she's very disciplined.

It almost scares me cuz I know I have to be like that at some point.

It's nice to see someone in a position that you wanna be in, and you can relate to them cuz it gives you that hope of I can do that too.

>> Luis: I could see you in that position, yeah.

>> Christiana: Yeah, me too.

>> Jaden: Why did you do two?

>> Christiana: I don't know.

>> Jaden: Girl, what you doing?

[LAUGH] >> [MUSIC] >> Christiana: It's too hot to be running.

>> Jaden: You cheated.

>> Luis: I didn't cheat.

>> Jaden: All right, we gotta rematch at some point throughout the week.

>> Luis: So that you could lose again.

[MUSIC] >> Christiana: Hammer.

Growing up in Philly, Growing up in Philly, I didn't know how big the counties were, and how diverse.

I didn't even know anything about Ringing Rocks.

I didn't even know that existed.

It's so pretty out here.

>> Luis: It is.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christiana: Yo, I need my phone for the 'Gram.

>> Luis: Wait, does that do something?

>> Christiana: No.

[MUSIC] >> Luis: That one rings.

[HAMMER ON ROCK] >> Christiana: Rudolph the red nose reindeer.

>> [MUSIC] >> Narrator: Since the early 1900s manufacturing has been the backbone of Southeast Pennsylvania's economy, but today's manufacturing industry looks very different from the early days of producing steel and textiles.

To discover the advances that have been made over the past several decades, let's peek in at two local businesses.

First, the crew headed to Berks County to visit with Molly at Morgan Truck Body.

>> Molly: Take one.

[LAUGH] I've always wanted to do that.

Check off my bucket list.

Hi, my name is Molly, I am from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, born and raised here for 22 years.

>> Narrator: Then Luis had the chance to get an exclusive behind the scenes look at Orleans Technical College.

>> Cynthia: My name's Cynthia Figueroa, and I am the president CEO Of JEVS Human Services.

Today we're sitting in Orleans Technical College, and so Orleans offers college certification programs in the trades.

>> Instructor: Here you can try it, 14 and half.

>> Luis: All right.

[SAW WHIRRING] >> Luis: Thank you, I really appreciate it.

>> Instructor: You're welcome.

>> Jaden: So being that we're in a more rural part of Pennsylvania, how is manufacturing impactful on Berks County?

>> Molly: I would say it's very helpful for the neighboring industry.

So if any agricultural products need transported, we can provide the trucks that cool the agricultural produce, or anything dairy related, or meat related.

We also build flatbed bodies, and that can be used to haul machinery.

>> Molly: Welcome in.

>> Jaden: Hi.

>> Molly: Let me tell you about my favorite truck.

This one has a coating on the side as well to allow the light to come in, but it keeps the heat out.

[MUSIC] >> Jaden: So Molly, can you tell us about your job description?

What do you do on a day to day?

>> Molly: So, daily right now I work in sales, selling truck body repairs.

So any damages that the customer might incur or experience during their use of a truck body, I work to help them quote how to repair them and getting them through the service center.

And then back to the customer, repaired.

>> Jaden: My gosh.

That's so cool.

>> [MUSIC] [TRUCK HORN] [LAUGH] >> Jaden: I should not be behind this, I don't even have my permit.

I'm getting out of here.

I just honked the horn.

I honked the horn.

I just honked the horn.

>> [MUSIC] >> Luis: Can you tell us a little bit about your position now, and what that consists of day to day?

>> Cynthia: Sure, so, JEVS Human Services is a large multi-service organization that really focuses on building independence and cultivating individuals to have economic self-sufficiency.

>> Instructor: Here's one of our students.

>> Cynthia: And so, we do that through a variety of different programs, Technical Ed.

>> Student: My friend, he was like, you wanna learn how to do electricity?

I was like, yeah, once I realized how easy it was, I kind of like kicked myself in the butt that, I wasted so much time not doing it so.

>> Cynthia: So, JEVS was originally founded because we were helping immigrants who were fleeing Nazi Germany to resettle in the US.

So they had jobs skills, but they needed to translate those job skills here in the US.

We still do that work now for the federal government.

So right now we have an influx of refugees from Ukraine, as you can imagine, Haiti, and as well as Afghanistan.

>> Luis: That's amazing.

>> Cynthia: It's a lot we could go on, but that gives you a nutshell of the variety.

>> Luis: It's amazing to think that you guys can provide, like, this institution, we walked around it for a little bit and it's just amazing.

We saw people of all different ages working on so many different things that they can then expand and find a job with.

And it all will help push our economy, save them from struggles that they would have to go through otherwise.

So just thank you for that.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: Today, Southeast Pennsylvania is still seeing growth in the manufacturing sector.

With almost 3,000 new job postings per month, there are opportunities to get your foot in the door locally, and the average salary for people working in manufacturing regionally is $110,136 [MUSIC] >> Narrator: Like with many industries, there are multiple ways to get started in manufacturing.

To reach a managerial or director level job like Molly's, you may want to pursue a Bachelor's degree.

>> Molly: I went to Pennsylvania State University to study supply chain.

So I originally started at Morgan in a supply chain role as an intern, and I got to work and see how the trucks were made.

I got to work on some safety stuff, but I got to do a lot of materials and supply chain stuff then.

So my major helped me with that, which then eventually transitioned into a job post college.

>> Narrator: But there are quicker and less expensive ways to kickstart a manufacturing career.

In fact, that's exactly what Cynthia's work aims to do, create more accessible pathways to help people get started.

>> Cynthia: The cost of higher education is really insurmountable for some families, just what it can cost to get a four-year degree and the amount of commitment, time and energy and the debt that you might enter into.

So it's definitely for some, but it's not for all.

And what we're really proud of is that Orleans offers a very affordable way of getting credentials that'll give you a life-sustaining wage, but won't saddle you with a tremendous debt.

>> Christiana: And would you say that since there is so much opportunity in manufacturing, do you think it's very accessible for people of all educational levels to enter into the field?

>> Molly: I love the manufacturing field because the company offers a variety of positions for any education level.

So for example, we have welders, we have high school students who can come in and learn welding at Morgan, and they get paid, they get classroom credits and they get potential job offers.

So you could be somebody who's just interested in welding and you can learn that skill as you work here.

Also, if you come into Morgan, we hire people with all education levels, so you can come in as a production associate, which means that you're just building the trucks.

And say you desire to become a welder or a painter, you can learn on the job training to become whatever position you desire, welding, painting.

>> Christiana: That's amazing.

>> Molly: Yes, it's a really great opportunity.

>> Christiana: For early career seekers like ourselves, what is some advice you would give to us?

>> Molly: So I have three pieces of advice, since there's three of you, this is fitting, three for three.

So first, I would say, be bold.

Never be afraid to engage in conversation.

Never be afraid to speak to the person of higher level to gain knowledge from them and get yourself out there and put your face in front of them, you never know who you're gonna meet.

Number two, say yes to as many opportunities as you can.

You never know what doors are gonna open and what doors you can walk through, and it will also help you gain a lot of experiences.

And then, number three, always maintain a work life balance.

Keep that work life balance throughout your careers, and you guys will be awesome.

>> Jaden: Thank you.

>> Luis: Thank you, that was really good advice.

>> Christiana: Thank you.

>> Molly: You're welcome.

[MUSIC] >> Christiana: I didn't really think here in Pennsylvania, just an hour out of Philly, that there is a place they're creating trucks from scratch.

So that was really cool.

Manufacturing is very welcoming to people of all different types of educational levels and backgrounds.

And she was able to emphasize and encourage more women to come into the manufacturing industry, which is really, really nice to hear.

>> Jaden: For me, it was really cool cuz I can see her and I look at myself, I'm like, that's how I'm gonna be when I'm older, which is really cool.

She's really bubbly, and like I really like that.

I definitely can see myself just like her, it's nice to see that you can still be funny and professional and really get stuff done.

>> Luis: Well, I thought Cynthia was pretty awesome, and then the institution was cool.

I mean, they have so many different things, these classes would actually lead to jobs that pay well without it costing as much.

>> Christiana: It will be a great journey and I'm excited to meet more professionals.

I think we'll have a lot of fun, and I'm excited to see what we discover.

>> Narrator: Next time on Roadtrip Nation's Paths Across Southeast Pennsylvania, the journey continues as the roadtrippers explore local careers in the energy, infrastructure, and education industries.

>>Luis: We're going to be talking to people in >>Christiana: Clean energy.

>>Jaden: Infrastructure.

>>Christiana: And education.

>>Jaden: I'm excited to just learn about different avenues and career paths that I might not have known about before.

>>Bill: There's huge shortage in the skilled trades now.

I think the sky's the limit in this industry.

Skilled trades in general, but certainly in HVAC.

>>Gina: There is no one straight career path.

You're going to find your particular niche and where you feel the most comfortable and the most interested, the most engaged and as long as you're growing and learning and being challenged.

You're in the right spot.

Wondering what to do with your life?

Well we've been there and we're here to help Our website has some awesome tools to help you find your path And you can check out all our documentaries, interviews and more Start exploring at roadtripnation.com [MUSIC]