On April 24, the sophomore class went to the Blair County Convention Center to explore the different jobs and careers that might interest them in the future.. Students were sent an email in early February giving them the opportunity to select careers of interest. Students left the building at 11:30 a.m. and returned around 2 p.m.
Some of the careers students were able to sit in for were: photography, child care, food services and many more based on their interests.
“I’m passionate about photography, and I wanted to share it with my friends, with anybody,” presenter Tim O’Brien said. “If I get more people excited about it. It’s not a competition, it makes everything better.”
“I got to see an opportunity I could do in the future that could help me find my path,” sophomore Adalei Ringler said.
The Rotary Career Fair is open to all sophomores in the district and the day is split into two parts. In the morning the smaller schools attend and in the afternoon the larger schools.
“It started with what’s called the Basics Committee, which is businesses and schools investing in cooperative solutions,” counselor Drew Yingling said. “So one of the things that was the focus of this group was helping students who are in high school really develop and find that spark for what they want to do after they’re done with high school, whether that is going into the workforce, going to a trade technical school, going on to some kind of higher educational institution, whether it be a four year school, two year school, business, trade, technical, whatever, military, of course,”
“Students have come back and been like, ‘that was great. Really, had a decent experience.’ Yeah, and we work with the rotary clubs in the county to be able to get those presenters and as we saw, they are from all walks of different kinds of employment opportunities and careers,” Yingling said.
Some teachers from within the building even participated in the event presenting to the students
“Mr. Harrington asked me to present, and I was excited to do so because I think teaching high school is a fantastic career,” student council adviser Jessica Hogan said. “I specifically love sharing my knowledge of biology and animals with students, so I was hoping to engage students into considering education as a career choice. I had huge shoes to fill because Mr. James Lowe has done this presentation for 25 years, and he is a fantastic educator. I was very fortunate that he was willing to share his presentation with me and I just put a “#hoganbio4life” spin on it to make it my own.”
