For anyone driving by Iowa Central Community College Tuesday morning they might have wondered why there was a fire truck, a school bus, a lineman’s truck, a giant tow truck, a road grader and a couple of squad cars in the Iowa Central Community College’s parking lot.

There was no odd emergency.

Instead, there was an opportunity for Webster City and area schools’ fifth-graders to learn about a variety of careers, and the vehicles used in those careers at the inaugural Careers on Wheels Day at the Webster City campus.

At full extension, the bucket on the City of Webster Cit’sy electrical service truck goes up almost 70 feet into the air. That was a bit too much — or way too much — for one student.

“I don’t think I could do the job,” he said. “I’m afraid of heights.”

That’s not really an impediment, lineman Dana Casey explained.

“So am I,” he said.

Casey let Ana Calles, of Webster City, try on a pair of heavy rubber sleeves and a pair of lineman’s gloves. Both protect the worker from high voltage lines.

“It was weird,” Calles said. “It was kind of rubbery.”

In spite of the thick gloves and the insulating rubber sleeves, she was still able to pick a small lock up off the ground.

“Well done,” Casey said.

There were, of course, some, well, interesting questions.

“One of them asked me why my shirt looks like a sick Sponge Bob,” Casey said of his high visibility shirt.

Madison Lovelace, of Webster City, got to sit in the driver’s seat of the Hamilton County Secondary Roads Department’s grader. Under the careful tutelage of operator Rick Taylor, she learned the rig’s controls consist largely of two joysticks.

“I like that,” she said while moving the controls on the shut-off machine.

Getting up close and personal with a combine isn’t a common experience for most of the students in the Webster City Middle School. Most are town kids who might have seen one out in a field from the vantage point of the road.

Paul Brian and his father, Henry Brian, brought one to town.

“The biggest share are town kids,” Henry Brian said. “They do have a lot of questions, though. How much does it cost, how old is it, how big is the engine?”

The students all got a chance to climb into the cab, from which they could enjoy a view of all the other vehicles in the lot; they were way above the heads of their peers on the ground.

Colette Bertran, director of the Webster City campus, said the event is inspired by a similar annual Careers on Wheels day held at the Fort Dodge Iowa Central Campus. She said it’s meant as a positive learning experience.

“The students might see this vehicle and not know what they do,” she said.

She said she got a very positive response from the businesses and agencies she reached out to.

“We’re already talking about adding businesses for next year,” she said.

Fifth-grade students came from Webster City, Stratford, Eagle Grove, and the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows district.

Almost 350 students were on hand, she said.

The event was organized by Megan Kruse, with Iowa Central.

“We decided to expand and offer this event to all Region 5 area schools,” she said. “It’s an incredible learning experience where students have the opportunity to learn about different careers that involve a set of wheels.”

Getting the students there for the event involved a bus ride.

Ted Larson, director of transportation for the Webster City and Stratford schools, brought a big flat-nosed Bluebird and talked to the students about being a bus driver and their safety on the bus routes.

He got an unusual question from Bentley Sande, a Webster City student.

“Has a bus ever joined the demolition derby here?” he asked.

Larson had a ready answer.

“No,” he said. “But we did sell one to someone that put it into a demolition derby.”

Lunch for the students, drivers and volunteers was provided by the Hamilton County Pork Producers and several local businesses.