Career Explorations: Looking to the future

A partnership between Parkland College, Good Spirit School Division and Christ the Teacher Catholic Schools is paying big dividends for area students.

More than 2,500 people, mostly high school kids bussed in by the local school divisions, attended Career Explorations 2013 at the Gallagher Centre November 13.

The fourth annual career fair featured more than 80 exhibitors from Saskatchewan, western Canada, and North Dakota including dozens of educational institutions and numerous employers from both the private and public sectors. Notably,

"It's a big benefit for both the students and exhibitors," said William Litchfield, Parkland's director of advancement. "This event gives students an idea of the many options they have when they graduate, while our exhibitors are able to speak with hundreds of potential recruits."

In addition to visiting the exhibitors' booths, students also had the opportunity to attend 35 30-minute information sessions.

Chad Holinaty, superintendent of education for Christ the Teacher who manned the school division's booth, said the career fair is only part of the career guidance program, but an important one because of the opportunity to have face-to-face conversations.

"Making connections with people helps to solidify for students something they might be interested in," he said.

In addition to Career Explorations, the schools have guidance counsellors available to help students and sponsor events such as "take your child to work day" and visits to post-secondary campuses.

The post-secondary institutions also come to the schools through their association the Saskatchewan Universities and Technical Institute Liaison (SUTIL).

SUTIL coordinates presentations at high schools throughout the province to provide information on education opportunities to students, parents, counsellors and teachers.

Dwayne Reeve, GSSD director of education, said kids today face so many more choices than ever before making events such as the career fair all the more relevant.

"It's extremely important that students know what's available to them," he said. "It's often tough to decide what you want to do with your future. We get a lot of positive feedback that Career Explorations helps make that choice."