Thousands of local middle school, high school, and recent high school graduates attended the exciting event where they learned more about career opportunities available from the various employers of Kern County. Nearly 150 companies were represented with more than 500 employees from those companies engaging with students and their families.
“It’s designed to turn the light on for kids and get them interested in careers they probably didn’t know existed. This opportunity starts to answer questions like what kind of education do you need, what’s a day in the life like, what skills do you need, how much money do you make and start to make those connections!” - Brian Miller, KHSD Supervising Administrator, Regional Occupational Center
Oil and natural gas, energy, healthcare, public services, construction, business and finance, transportation, and representatives from many other industry sectors gave students a comprehensive experience. Parents also found the Career Expo beneficial for a variety of reasons.
“It’s an exciting event. They have a lot of information for our community
members.” - Mayra Sandoval, Parent
According to Miller, statistics show the more career paths students are exposed to in middle and high school, the better prepared they are to make decisions about what types of education they want, and they can save time and money by working toward their goals with an organized approach.
“It is setting me on the right path for what I want to do. I want to go into photography and video editing and photoshop.” - Erasmo Carreno, Shafter High School Student
“It helps me prepare for the future and see what I like and what I dislike.” - Juan, Perez, Golden Valley High School Student
“Since the colleges are here they really focus on getting to know you and what programs you want. They also give you brochures to show you the prerequisites you need.” - Amy Arriada, Golden Valley High School Student
Local educators and business leaders were equally excited to participate in the very first Career Expo realizing what an incredible opportunity the event was, not only for the students, but the future of our local workforce.
“In my opinion, we have the best program in the nation, period. We are able to produce viable employees for prospective employees at an event like this, and within two years we can have an Associates Degree in their hand and all the training to be qualified technicians” - Rony Recinos, Automotive Technologies Instructor, Bakersfield College
“I think exposure like this is a great opportunity for the kids to get a better idea of what options they have. It’s hard to make a choice if you don’t know what options there are, so this is awesome!” - Jonathan Rodriguez, Tasteful Selections
The Career Expo was very well received by both families and the local business community. Planning is already underway for the 2nd Annual Career Expo, coming up in 2019.
