Annual career fair attracts hundreds of eager students
- Judy Bird | May 16, 2014
High school students from Regina and Southern Saskatchewan traded in their classroom studies for a day to explore potential career choices for their future at the annual Stepping Stones Career Fair on May 7. Hundreds of students flooded through the doors at Evraz Place in Regina, eager to learn about the industries, trades and businesses taking part.
A variety of career options were presented, with booths ranging from construction, heavy equipment, pipe fitting and mining to policing, fire fighting, the armed forces, health care, banking, gaming, beauty and esthetics, media, and more. Students interested in continuing their education had the opportunity to learn more about programs and supports offered from institutions including the University of Regina, the First Nations University of Canada, SIAST and SIIT.
Several booths featured hands-on experience, such as building scaffolding, competing in hammering nails, gearing up to work in the mine, putting on the RCMP Red Serge or sitting behind the wheel of a police vehicle. The Regina Firefighters display allowed every kid to have their dream come true, somewhat, as they hopped in the fire truck and strapped on the gear.
Students still had some work to do at the career fair. Organizers learned from past career fairs that just presenting information wasn't enough; they needed a way to engage the students. One way to do that was to offer prizes. This year, prizes available included laptops, headphones and gift certificates.
"We created a crossword puzzle," said Mark Gettle, Stepping Stones board member and a member of the organizing committee. "Students have to get a letter from each booth that they visit. They have to ask a pertinent question about the career that theyre involved with, and then the people at the booth give them a letter. If they complete the crossword puzzle, it's about 30 letters, then they can put their name in to win a laptop."
Stepping Stones Career Fair has been around for about 16 years, and is targeted to high school Aboriginal youth, but is open to all high school students.