By listening to several professionals present, students got to learn and ask questions about career paths they may be considering during the Career Expo on September 21, 2022. 

“[The Career Expo is] where we bring professionals in to talk to kids about careers they might be interested in,” industry and engineering pathway ambassador Jacqueline Lavely said.

When picking guest speakers, the Pathway Ambassadors looked at student profiles on PathwayManager to find professionals that students would find engaging. 

According to Lavely, they made it a priority to find speakers that aligned with students’ ideas of what they think they want to do in the future.

“We try to make it very focused for kids,” Lavely said, “…we use the data [from Pathway Manager] to see where the biggest interest slots [are] and we try to get professionals in those fields to come to talk to kids.”

Once the speakers were chosen, students were sent forms to pick which professionals they wanted to listen to.

“We give kids a choice as to what careers they want to see so that hopefully they’re more engaged and interested,” Lavely said.

Many of the teachers and professionals believe that the Career Expo was a very helpful opportunity for students.

“I think it’s really good for students of your age to get exposed to a lot of different potential careers,” guest speaker and United States magistrate judge Elizabeth Hay said.

 This opinion was shared by various professionals. Many of them also wished that they had similar opportunities growing up.

“I think that [the Career Expo is important] partly because the career I ended up in was not one that I knew about as a student,” Hay said. “I sort of wish I had some exposure to it and had been able to give thought to it because I discovered it later in life.”

Guest speaker and Learning and Development professional Theresa Hummel-Kralinger said she agrees with Hay’s opinion. 

“I knew the jobs like teachers, fireman, things that you see, but there are so many jobs that you don’t see,” Hummel-Kralinger said.

According to Hummel-Kralinger, giving students the opportunity to meet with professionals in a variety of job fields allows them to learn about more paths than they never knew existed.

“Someone might be able to come into the classroom here and talk about a field that you had no idea was even out there so yeah, I think it’s really important,” Hummel-Kralinger said.

Hay also said it’s important that students “keep an open mind” when it comes to possible career ideas.

According to Hummel-Kralinger, when choosing a career, “a big piece of advice” is to speak with someone in the career field of interest. 

“Talk to somebody who is actually doing that work,” Hummel-Kralinger said. “Talk to them and ask them what do you like, what do you not like, what are reasons I should get into the field, what are reasons not to get into the field, so [basically] talk to somebody who does the work.”