Joliet Job Corps Center student Leianna Sullivan is fitted with a bullet-proof vest before taking a ride-along on Thursday with Will County Police Officer Heidi Connolly.

Students learned on-the-job lessons about the work of police crime scene investigators, building construction contractors, hospital pharmacists, restauranteurs and local elected officials among others as part of Groundhog Job Shadow Week.

Traditionally held each year during the week of Feb. 2, the events are a way for students to take a closer look at the world of work. But it is not just a day of activities. The events happen throughout February.

At the Joliet Job Corps Center, Security/MILCAP students Leianna Sullivan and Elia Kernell wore bullet-proof vests when they rode in the squad cars of Will County Police Officers Heidi Connolly and Andre Carter. The students also spoke with several crime scene investigators, toured the shooting range and learned about the sheriff’s 9-1-1 dispatch center.

Bryan Roberts, the interim pharmacy operations manager at Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center, led two groups of Pharmacy Tech students on tours. And local contractor Bill Holmes gave Building Construction Technology students a tour of a small strip mall being built in Shorewood, Illinois. Culinary Arts students toured Joliet Junior College’s Culinary Arts program and had lunch at the student-run restaurant.

An officer from the Will County Forest Preserve District brought his German shepherd police dog to the Center for a demonstration. Later in the month, Tile and Cement students will tour the nearby Ozinga concrete plant.