Amidst the t-shirts, sneakers and ponytails at Stoddert Elementary, walked men in flightsuits or ties and reporters with notebooks at the ready during career day Friday. 

Architect Rick Schneider, whose daughter is in Mrs. Prosser's class, explained his work and showed the students images of buildings he had designed for places as close as D.C. and as far away as Uganda. 

His design firm, IStudio Architects in Dupont, designed the natural playground for Stoddert during its recent renovation.

Tracy Winborn, a producer for CBNNews, had a presentation that included a clip of a recent interview with a former American Idol contestant to show the broad range of work a producer can do. Her son is a third-grader at Stoddert.  

Captain Anthony T. Calandra, US Navy, came to stoddert from Joint Base Anacostia Bolling to speak to several classes about his job and the benefits of being in the military.

He told students in Mrs. Prosser's class that flying is "a lot of fun" but that the people he works with are what makes his job so great.

Several hands shot up to ask about how flying compared to video games. 

"Doing the real this is a lot more fun than video games," he told them.