Clarke Central hosted a College and Career Fair in the New Gym Nov. 8. The fair gave students the opportunity to speak with college representatives and explore their career options. “I just wanted to focus on green jobs and jobs in sustainability for kids to understand that if they appreciate the environment and maybe want a career in that then there’s all different opportunities for that,” the representative for the Athens Clarke County Solid Waste Department Denise Plemmons said.
The Clarke Central High School College and Career Fair gave students a chance to speak to representatives of different colleges and career fields.
Clarke Central High School hosted a College and Career Fair in the New Gym during Advisement on Nov. 8. The event was facilitated by CCHS College Adviser Alyssa Yuhouse.
“I think it (went) really well. We have more people here than last year,” Yuhouse said. “We have more career options for the students than last year and more of the students have actually showed up.”
The event gave students the opportunity to browse booths from different universities and colleges, as well as explore career options.
“I like the idea of it,” social studies department teacher Drew Wheeler said. “I always like every year that we have it and I always like taking my kids to it when available. A lot of the times we don’t do it through Advisement, usually so when I teach my seniors, I try to take them.”
Juniors and seniors were invited to attend, but students from other grade levels, like freshman Patrick Gresham, took the opportunity to attend as well.
“It’s never too early to start thinking about college options because college is very important and each college is different so you need to know your options,” Gresham said.
Oglethorpe University representative and admissions counselor Wittney Reed took advantage of the opportunity to introduce students to the Atlanta liberal arts college.
“I’ve met a number of students who have come up to my table at college fairs and just been like ‘Oh, I’ve never heard of you before,’” Reed said. “My goal in general with my travel territory is just to kind of spread information about Oglethorpe and to be connected with prospective students.”
While students could interact with colleges, they could also discuss career options. Denise Plemmons represented the Athens Clarke County Solid Waste Department to speak to students about potential environmentally-based careers.
“Right now the workforce for sustainability jobs is growing tremendously because more and more businesses are wanting to be aware of their impact on the environment so we need that workforce,” Plemmons said. “We need students to be interested in that and choose that as their career path.”
Plemmons believes the opportunity presented by the fair will be beneficial to students’ futures.
“When I was in high school, we didn’t have one, so I didn’t know exactly what opportunities there were for me,” Plemmons said. “I’ve had several different jobs and I’ve learned a little bit at each one, but I never knew exactly where I wanted to go and I think (the College and Career Fair) can really expose them to the different opportunities they can have when they graduate.”
