Junior year is often a critical time in a high school student’s life. Classes are hard, schedules are packed, and it’s the time when the decision must be made about what students want to do with the rest of their lives. This is the time when choosing colleges is important, and it’s not possible to select the right college if the student doesn’t have any idea about what careers he or she wants to pursue. Greater Latrobe High School hosted this year’s Career Expo, which was geared to help students from three different schools, Latrobe, Derry and Ligonier, determine their future plans .
On Friday, October 20, 2010, forty-six representatives visited the Senior High to take part in the first Career Expo. “Usually students come down in three separate periods and there aren’t as many career representatives” said Mrs. Hager, the senior high guidance counselor who is in charge of the Expo.
“It is anticipated by Greater Latrobe, Derry Area and Ligonier Valley Schools that a larger venue as a Career Expo will give all of our students the opportunity to further explore their individual career interests” said Mrs. Hager. To satisfy this they invited a larger variety of representatives to help juniors meet the main goal, find a career to explore.
There were four main clusters featured at the Expo. Art, education, social services and hospitality, comprised cluster one, medical environment and engineering comprised cluster two, manufacturing and construction comprised cluster three and the final cluster was comprised of business, computers, law and communications. Each of these clusters had their own representatives for a variety of careers. “I got a lot of valuable information about other careers,” said junior Jessie Miller.
One of the most well known representatives was Chef Dato, of Chef Dato’s Table near Derry. Seven Springs, The American Red Cross and Adelphoi Village are other well known groups that were in attendance. Along with area businesses, representatives from St. Vincent, St. Francis, Pitt at Greensburg, WCCC and multiple branches of the Military also attended.
Choosing a career to explore can be overwhelming and difficult. “I feel like the career expo was beneficial for students who don’t know what career they want to pursue,” said junior Lizzie Ruppen. With a new venue, a variety of experts and more time to explore different careers, students were given opportunity help make the process easier.
