GVCC Hosts a Career Exploration Fair
On Saturday, October 17th, children as young as 2nd grade through college students gathered in professional attire for a career exploration fair at Grace Valley Christian Center. Many came armed with clipboards and questions such as “Could you please describe a typical day in your career?” and “What was the most important thing that you did to be successful?” Over 50 volunteers from GVCC staffed 29 booths spread across the GVCC gym, each representing occupations in career fields including science, engineering, business, law, IT, medicine, education, agriculture, and skilled trades. Volunteers generously gave hours of their time – not as recruiters, but as mentors to guide and inspire students seeking to discover God’s calling in their lives.
Volunteers set up engaging booths with visual examples of their work, poster boards, and FAQ handouts. At the booth representing applications engineering a robot quickly turned the nobs of an etch-a-sketch to create a perfect copy of an image displayed on a nearby computer screen. On the other side of the room, students were challenged to think like an auditor by looking for inconsistencies between two jars full of coins while answering the question “which jar has more money?” After some coaching, students discovered the secret – one jar was hiding a hollow spot that could only be discovered by looking under the jar! In yet another corner of the room an automated blood test machine ran in the background as Allison Lima, the international technical services manager with a local diagnostics company, explained the many career paths within biotechnology. Nurses, doctors, and physician assistants wore scrubs and displayed sample tools. State of California managers gave handouts and advice about the state hiring process. A dietician challenged students to make a balanced meal using play food. And an actuary spoke with students about the rigors and rewards of his career.
Midway through the fair, junior high and high school students attended a break out session. Greg Broderick, an attorney, spoke to a packed room of students and parents about career planning. College students attended a separate break out session about networking and transitioning to their first job. Investment advisor, Evan Mathew, spoke about the value of networking and how to approach it successfully. Fred Wetherbee, an account executive with a large pharmaceutical company, gave practical tips about using LinkedIn. And engineer David Trombly spoke about how to be successful in your first job.
These are just a few of the scenes that played out during the event. College student Jordan Ramalingam benefited from the fair, recalling: “These invaluable conversations helped me develop a more solid plan for my career and identify ways to strengthen my position in the job market.”
Students and parents were inspired and motivated by the career fair, and many continued to talk about what they learned in the days following the event. “The Career Fair was very eye-opening because I didn’t realize that most of the jobs represented in the fair even existed,” said high school student Michelle Acoba.
Parent Deborah Feil shared a similar sentiment of thankfulness, “Our son spoke with several people who work in the health care field, each eager to give detailed explanations of day to day life in their career. They were enthusiastic in sharing their knowledge and happy to provide advice in what our son could do to prepare himself for a career in medicine. It was invaluable.”
This post was contributed by Ashley Lewis