Lakeview Middle School Hosts Career Expo
Approximately 1,300 seventh and eighth grade students attended the Kosciusko Career Expo Wednesday held by the Workforce Development Committee of the Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce. The event featured approximately 50 exhibitors who set up tables with hands on demonstrations for students to partake in. The goal in the event was to expose the kind of possibilities students can pursue in Kosciusko County to better prepare them for their future after graduation.
According to Trina Hoy, vice president of communications and events for WK Chamber, the event began at 8:30 a.m. and continued throughout the day in 45 minute intervals. Every 45 minutes a different school from the area would send its seventh and eighth grade students to partake in the event’s activities.
Students hailed from Edgewood, Lakeview, Milford, Whitko, Tippecanoe Valley, Fairfield and Wawasee middle schools and from Gateway Education Center.
Darryl Smith, the chairman of the Work Force Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the event, told StaceyPageOnline.com the event helps to demonstrate to students the numerous opportunities that lie within the county that may interest them.
“Were taking about 1,300 students from Kosciusko County and we expose them to different career interests that they have,” said Smith. “We are helping them to basically formulate in their younger years what their interests are, what types of things would they like to do as they get older and basically cultivate them for future careers in the county.”
Many well-known businesses in the area donated their time to the event including Biomet, Pay Pro Media, Teacher’s Credit Union, Walgreens, Owen Family Funeral Home, Medtronic and Depuy Synthes.
“Today we are just doing a career fair for seventh and eighth graders all across this part of the region of Indiana,” said Scott Feather of Pay Pro Media. “Were just giving them an idea with all of the different things this county has to offer. And hopefully it matches up with whatever their career aspirations are and whatever they want to study. The students have been great, they have asked really good questions, I think their teachers have done a great job in preparing them to come ready to ask really good questions. Its been a good day.”
The event also featured several local colleges, such as Ivy Tech Community College, IPFW and Grace College. In addition, students interested in law enforcement and public safety were granted a visit from the Warsaw Police Department, Indiana Conservation Officers, Multi-Township EMS and Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory.
The event also offered students a look at how to prepare for their college careers in the more immediate future. Ronna Kawsky and several of her Career Center students and staff attended the event, setting up booths featuring the various opportunities students can pursue at the Career Center.
According to Kawsky, many students at the school are able to find career pathways that can segway into their future lives. Kawsky stated that many of the Career Center students graduate high school with college credit and work certifications. One student in attendance reported that he would graduate from the career center with 30 hours of college credit.
“We have programs starting in the agriculture, business marketing, information technology, engineering and industrial technology, family consumer sciences and then this year we have a whole new department called health science.” Kawsky added, “Whether you want to be a biomedical scientist or a culinary artist we have lots of things to offer you. You name the career and we probably have a program or a pathway.”
According to Kawsky, the Career Center services over 2,100 students a day. Kawsky said most of the students who attend are from Warsaw, Whitko, Tippecanoe Valley, Triton, West Noble, Wawasee and Fairfield high schools.