Career fair showcases opportunities close to home
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WINTERSVILLE -- Making sure area high school students are aware of educational and employment opportunities available in the region is important.
That’s why the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce has held its countywide Career and Education Fair for several years.
“This is a fantastic way to support our community and the high schoolers and let them know what options are out there,” Leanna Lulla, the chamber’s membership coordinator, said Thursday. “Whether it’s that you graduate and go straight into employment, or you want to go straight into a trade or straight into four-year education, we want to let them know they have options. A lot of kids don’t know that.”
Around 800 students from the region’s high schools had the chance to meet with representatives from more than 50 schools and businesses at the St. Florian Event Center.
Among them was Chris Hoover.
“We see the value of education in Jefferson County, and our college wants to help service the students and the residents,” said Hoover, dean of enrollment and recruitment at Belmont College, the event’s platinum sponsor.
“The kids seem to be really excited,” added Hoover, a graduate of Indian Creek High School. “We offer college credit plus in the high schools here in the county. Creating that positive experience from a young age is important. They are earning college credits while they are in high school and are able to continue on to complete degrees and start into careers.”
The program, administered through the Ohio Department of Workforce and Education, allows high school students to take college classes for free while earning college and high school credits.
“I like to let the community know that they don’t have to go far to find a career,” said Mariah Kuryn, a human relations generalist at Interstate Waste Services, the event’s gold sponsor. “We have career planning on site, and our employees are able to use their knowledge and advance and stay around here.”
Being involved in the region is important to IWS, which is located in Amsterdam.
“We try to get our name out there, because we are kind of on the other side of the county,” added Kuryn, who was joined at the IWS table by Jareka Henry, operations administrator. “Interstate invests a lot in the community, and this is another way we can get our name out there.”
While many of the schools and businesses had participated in the event before, others were taking part for the first time. Among them was Megan Presley of Presley Hearing Center. She was in the fair’s roundtable area, where students could speak one-on-one with professionals and learn more about potential careers.
“They come up here and talk with us, and we tell them about our career and what we do,” she said. “I’m looking forward to be being able to counsel and educate these young folks about the field of audiology and maybe inspire them to become an audiologist.”
Students also had the chance to meet with employers, colleges, universities, technical schools, labor unions, military representatives and recruiters from law enforcement agencies.
“A lot of kids come out for different reasons, but there’s a big uptick in interest in law enforcement now,” Steubenville Police Sgt. Ryan Lulla said. “It’s always been a bit of a pendulum -- we gain interest, we lose interest. Right now, there are a lot of people interested in it. I enjoy coming out because I get this from two different angles -- sure, I’m obviously from the police department, but I’m also an instructor at the police academy.
“People have a lot of questions, like ‘How do I become a police officer?’ I can tell you how to get hired at a police department, and I can also tell you how to get into the police academy,” he added.
Interest in the armed services is up as well, Army Sgt. Courtney Miller said.
“We’re here to spread the benefits about all the Army has to offer, and the more than 150 different job opportunities that we have,” he explained. “We have education benefits and opportunities to travel. If you want to get out of the area, it’s a ticket out. If you want to go to college, it’s a free ticket to college.”
Making sure students understand the opportunities available after high school is another component of the fair.
“It’s incredibly important for the Indian Creek Local School District to be present at the career and education fair because preparing students for their future extends far beyond the classroom,” said Amy Colantoni, public relations liaison for the district. “Events like this allow us to connect students with local businesses, colleges, organizations and professionals while exposing them to the many pathways available right here in our community.
“As a district, we want our students to know that their future matters, their opportunities are limitless and there is a community ready to support them as they take their next steps,” she added.
That exposure is important, agreed Marci Snyder Crawford, executive director of the United Way of Jefferson County.
“It’s beneficial to be here for a couple of reasons,” she said. “Our job is to be with the community, and I want to be able to talk with the kids and have relationships with the kids as well as the adults and also show them that what we do is needed. We’re letting these kids know that maybe that’s something they want to do -- to be there for other people.”
Students could learn about opportunities in fields ranging from public health with the Jefferson County General Health District to training through Local 246 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
“It’s important to show students in Jefferson County about the wide range of services we have in public health and the different educational opportunities they can pursue for a career in the public health space,” said Andrew Henry, the health district commissioner. “We have people with environmental science degrees working in our environmental division. We have folks with nursing degrees at various levels, everything from a certificate to a bachelor’s degree, as well as a community health worker who has specific training that links people to community resources. I think education in the health department is largely unknown, so we want to share that with the community.”
“We’re here to meet the kids and let them know about the opportunities there are in the trades, in particular the electrical trades,” explained Rich Cesta, training director for IBEW 246. “With all of the projected work, we are always looking for people who are interested in doing electrical work, and we offer a four-year apprenticeship. It’s a career, where they can make a living, provide for a family and be productive.”
TreVida Healthcare was the silver sponsor. Prize sponsors included Toni Moreland State Farm, Mike Biasi and Valley Converting, Don Clarke and the Clarke Funeral Home, the Toronto Kiwanis Club and Toronto City Schools and Superintendent Maureen Taggart.