Students find future options at career fair

The college and career fair at Yerington High School last Friday involving students from YHS, Yerington Intermediate School and Smith Valley was bigger than last year and organizers hope to grow it even more, possibly moving it from the practice gym into the main YHS gym.

 

Also going on last week was a College and Career Week for seventh and eighth grade students. The goal was to expose and inspire students about various careers "while giving them tools to be successful in their educational journey," said Jessica Angle, the GEAR-UP coordinator for Yerington and Silver Stage schools.

 

She said an example of this was hosting guest presenters from University of Nevada, Reno, who provided a scholarship workshop for students.

 

Debbie Rife, graduation coach for Yerington and Silver Stage high schools, also was pleased with the expanded college and career fair and hopes to see it grow more. There, the students could interact with the variety of educational/vocational offerings, including cosmetology, and local and out-of-town businesses.

 

The college and career fair featured about 30 booths, encompassing about four colleges at UNR and from other colleges, including from as far away as Grand Canyon University in Phoenix and College of Siskyous in Weed, Calif.

 

Angle said students, to help prepare for College and Career Week, filled out career interest inventory surveys that provided organizers information on career clusters. That information helped them choose the guest career professional speakers/presenters for the career cluster workshop sessions.

 

She said there also were grade-specific presentations about college preparation from college representatives given in the YIS gym on Friday.

 

Wild West Chevrolet was on hand to introduce its apprenticeship program to junior and senior students, Rife noted.

 

Angle said a financial education day was provided, giving students a fictitious career, salary, spouse and debt.

 

Some of those comments, she said, included "I don't want to be an adult, it's tough" and "Now I understand why my parents are stressed out."

 

A mock legislative session also was conducted last week in which Assemblyman Tom Grady of Yerington and State Sen. James Settelmeyer of Minden helped students understand the legislative process. Angle said students wrote and presented bills on topics such as the Affordable Care Act, cell phone usage in schools, immigration reform and gun control laws.