Seventh-graders check out the Career Day Tuesday at Riverside Schools, hosted by the Midwest Regional Educational Service Center and the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, where 30 businesses were represented and 14 students from the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center participated. (EXAMINER PHOTO | SHARYN KOPF)
Seventh-graders from around Logan County descended on the Riverside gym in DeGraff Tuesday, Oct. 24, to learn about local job possibilities. The day-long event offered a variety of careers, from blue collar to those requiring further education.
“We bring in seventh-graders because that’s when they start career exploration,” Karen Sorreles, youth development liaison at Midwest Regional Educational Service Center, said. “It also helps them consider jobs they might not have thought about before.”
This year’s businesses included welders, mechanics, law enforcement, construction and several from the medical field. According to Sorreles, they try to hit every trade available in the area.
Ben Vollrath, president and CEO of the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, explained, “We’d love to have every kid choose to come back to Logan County because there’s a spot for them here. This proves that.”
Career day is one of many events coming out of the Logan County Collaborative—a collections of administrators, business representatives and government officials who, Sorreles said, come together and brainstorm ways to help the community.
Students not only had a chance to meet with various business leaders, but they enjoyed challenges like filling in answers to a questionnaire or completing a scavenger hunt.
“This is looking down the road and helping our students get to where they want to be someday,” Vollrath concluded. “Hopefully it opens their minds to new possibilities.”
Students from Bellefontaine, West Liberty-Salem, Indian Lake, Benjamin Logan and Riverside middle schools attended the annual event, which went from 9 a.m. to 2:25 p.m.
