Nearly 70 education providers, businesses, and community organizations teamed up to offer a wide spectrum of future possibilities to more than 400 high school students at the 11th Annual Oceana College and Career Fair held in Shelby High School's impressive double-gym on February 24..
Alyssa Merten of the Oceana College Access Network coordinated the event with the assistance of a planning team of area educators.
"“The College and Career Fair helps students envision what is available for them after graduation,” she said. "Many students tell us how they appreciate learning from the community, business, and educational providers who come here."
(L-R) Oceana Community Foundation Program Officer Hannah Naples, Shelby Supt. Mark Olmstead, Alyssa Merten, Shelby Hughes from the Summit Tech Center, and Alicia Ortega also with the Oceana Community Foundation
The ESD's Shelby Hughes is the Work-Based Learning Coordinator at the Summit Tech Center, our CTE program at WSCC. She helped Alyssa put together this valuable event 11 years ago.
“The College and Career Fair is win-win. It's also a good opportunity for employers in our area to make connections with students who they may want to employ someday." she said. “Everyone can learn from each other – and local economic development is strengthened as a result."
Our ESD had four speech pathologists hosting a booth at the College & Career Fair.
As you can imagine, the high school students had a lot of interest in Speech Pathology as a career path.
(L-R) Stephanie Hart, Intern Karlee Plamondon, Jill Soper (Special Education Supervisor), Kara Albrecht, and Katt Pratt.
Along with Shelby Hughes and our speech pathologist department, Assistant Superintendent of Technology Josh Hayes broke away from serving our ESD and 4 other ISDs to go solo at a booth to discuss careers in IT with tech-leaning attendees.
Thank you everyone who made this year's Oceana College and Career Fair a success.
"Working with the College and Career Fair is a continual source of joy," said Shelby Hughes. "Hearing from teachers that their students are now actively reaching out to them for assistance on resumes and college or internship applications is exciting."