8th grade students feel around with cow and pig organs at the Clintonville Middle School Career Fair
On Wednesday, 8th grade students from 17 different schools across the area attended a career fair at Clintonville Middle School, put on by Fox Valley Technical College and the Chambers of Shawano Country and Clintonville.
Organizers say the event is an chance for students to learn about career opportunities in their own backyard.
“They don’t need to leave their communities,” said Kim Manteuffel, Regional Center Manager at Fox Valley Technical College in Clintonville. “They can stay in their communities that they loved and have a really good job. They don’t necessarily have to go to the Fox Valley or to down south near Milwaukee to find great opportunities. They have businesses right here locally.”
Careers ranged from hospitality, to the food industry, the National Guard, and even the Results Broadcasting radio stations, which offered students insights to a careers of all kinds.
This career fair is an annual event and the students have always provided great feedback from the experience.
“They love the hands-on activities, they learn about careers they never knew existed, and it kind of gets them out of their box,” Manteuffel said. “They usually just know what their parents do and this really lets them learn about 50 different careers that we have here today.”
One table that generated a lot of interest, but also a few questionable looks from students was that of Dirk Weber, representing United Veterinary Service in Clintonville. His display gave students a chance to feel around the heart of a cow and pig, as well as their kidney’s.
“Like I’ve been telling the students, if you’re not grossed out by this, in fact if it’s quite interesting to you, you might be able to have a career in either human medicine or veterinary medicine,” Weber explained. “If this is tough for you to handle, a career in medicine is probably not for you. Girls seem to really like it, the boys not so much. I think they’re all just sort of interested because it’s real.”
There were 46 total vendors in attendance for the event, which were happy to answer any questions the students had while exploring possible careers.