Organizers: Job fair can keep area students here - Oneonta Daily Star
ONEONTA — More than 750 middle school and high school students gathered at the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce's 2014 Career Expo on Thursday to explore their options for the future.
Representatives of more than 25 area businesses, corporations and colleges were set up around the medium-sized room at the Holiday Inn in Oneonta, and students from 13 local schools buzzed around from table to table, asking questions about future education and job opportunities.
Barbara Ann Heegan, president and chief executive officer of the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce, said the event went "wonderfully."
"The purpose of the Career Expo was to provide students with a well-rounded depiction of career opportunities in our region, the jobs that may be available to them when they graduate and the education and skills needed to acquire those jobs," Heegan said. "It is all about keeping the students local to let them know there is something for each of those students to do here in their hometown."
The exhibit set up by Ron Wamsley, a city of Oneonta firefighter and fire prevention officer, was a big hit among many students. Wamsley showed students different equipment firefighters use and told them about local career opportunities in the field.
"It's important for the younger kids to figure out what they want to do so they know what path they'll need to take," Wamsley said. "It's good for them."
Another popular exhibit was the Otsego County Sheriff's Department table, where corrections officers Jake Smith and Jason Ritton spoke to students about what it's like to be a police officer.
"A lot of students are asking if they should go to college and I'm telling them they should," Smith said. "I think this event is a great thing. It shows kids there are jobs in Otsego County."
Justin Riavez and Nick Larosa, eighth graders at Cherry Valley — Springfield Central School, asked Smith and Ritton what kind of schooling is needed to become a police officer and whether corrections officers get to participate in SWAT responses. The answer was no, but Riavez said the sheriff's department table was still his favorite exhibit.
Students also flocked to Chobani's exhibit, where employees handed out more than 400 sample cups of vanilla Greek yogurt, according to Don Brown and Cassie Treen, event coordinators at the New Berlin-based yogurt plant.
"We lost count," Brown said. "The kids are engaging and asking questions, and that's what it's all about. And, of course, they like free stuff."
Liz Rickard, program director of Career Opportunities in Rural Education, said she noticed many students expressing an interest in health care-related careers.
Pathfinder Village, Springbrook, Fidelis Care, Bassett Medical Center and Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care, Inc. were all represented at the job fair.
Jessica Lundy, a Cherry Valley eighth grader, said she is hoping to become a nurse someday. Her friends, D'Anna Jicha and Cherokee Yerdon Plows, want to be a daycare provider and tattoo and piercing artist respectively, they said.
"It's really good for them to know what options they have," Rickard added. "I think it's a great opportunity for kids. Even if we only impacted 10 percent of the students here today, it would be a success."
Kayla Johnson, a 10th grader at Laurens Central School, said she was impressed at the turnout of college exhibitors. Representatives from Hartwick College, SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Cobleskill, Utica School of Commerce and SUNY Broome Community College were in attendance.
"It's a really great opportunity to explore different job paths," Johnson said. Her favorite tables were the sheriff's office table and the Otesaga Resort Hotel's exhibit, she added.
Kerri Greene, an admissions associate from the Utica School of Commerce, said she has been to many area job fairs recently and Thursday's career expo was one of the best-attended she has seen.
"I'm impressed with how much they know already about what they want to do, despite being so young," Greene said. "They're asking good questions about the job market."
Vice President of Oneonta Block Company, Rebecca Lloyd, said she was encouraging the students who stopped at her table to also visit the Otsego Northern Catskills BOCES exhibit on Thursday.
"I want them to realize that you can still be in honor society and go to BOCES," she said. Several students said on Thursday that they are planning on attending BOCES for nursing or cosmetology.
Lloyd's company always has a need for commercial drivers, and BOCES has a great program for that, too, she said. More than six young girls asked her how they could become truck drivers for the company, she added.
"The main thing I told them is that you need to have common sense and be willing to work," Lloyd said. "We do want to keep the kids in this area."
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
Put the internet to work for you.
Comments
Post a Comment