Seguin-area youth explore local career path options

Dalondo Moultrie The Seguin Gazette

While it might have seemed like the best career day ever, an event held Wednesday for youth in Seguin was so much more.

Eighth-grade students from area middle schools attended the first Seguin Area Youth Career Expo at the Seguin Coliseum and some left with a better idea of where their career paths may take them.

The expo was “good” and “cool,” 14-year-old Barnes Middle School student Brayden Carnes said.

“I want to be a firefighter and I’ll probably be in the military,” he said. “It’ll get me ready for what I want to do.”

More than 800 eighth-grade students from Jim Barnes, Briesemeister, Navarro and Marion middle schools had the chance to attend the expo, billed as an interactive career expo at the Coliseum. The expo provided youth with the opportunity to meet business professionals from several different industries to learn about in-demand careers in the area.

It also provided help for the students in the near term, said Rick Bough, Seguin ISD Career and Technical Education director.

“Seguin-area students are required to choose their career pathways the semester before their freshman year,” he said. “This expo provides hands-on career exposure at a critical point in their academic careers. Our hope is that our students are inspired by the diversity of careers available in their own backyard.”

About 30 area businesses served as exhibitors, said Ashlynn Read, business retention specialist for the Seguin Economic Development Corporation.

Exhibitors demonstrated equipment, products, videos and more to give students an interactive view of working in the various industries.

Tuesday’s event was the first of its kind but the city’s economic development corporation provides other opportunities for students, said Josh Schneuker, Seguin Economic Development Corporation executive director.

“The workforce development events we host throughout the year focus on high school students,” he said. “While a handful of them will potentially work for an area company within the next two-three years, it’s important for businesses to introduce their industry to the younger generation. That’s where we come in. We help our community connect our youth with potential career paths after they graduate. We work to prepare a skilled workforce to fill the needs of various industries. Facilitating a career expo is one way we do that.”

Among the presenters were representatives of the city of Seguin Information Technology department, Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative and Guadalupe Regional Medical Center. Participating was a great way to expose future generations to many industries, including health care, said Juliet Salas, employment coordinator in Guadalupe Regional Medical Center’s human relations department.

Jeff Kerlick, GVEC community relations representative, agreed.

“GVEC is here because we offer a wide variety of different opportunities for kids, young adults looking for jobs,” Kerlick said, running down a list including electricians, HVAC techs, internet technicians, an information technology department, customer service representatives and more. “It’s just a whole range of opportunities.”

The expo is also good for the community, said Myra Salinas, tourism assistant for the Seguin Main Street and Convention and Visitors Bureau. It helps maintain a pipeline of homegrown talent that either stays here and joins the workforce after high school or returns to the area workforce after completing stints in higher education, she said.

“Usually, they do this expo for high school. This is the first time for middle school,” Salinas said. “This just gets their foot in the door. It is recruiting in a sense because they’re only eighth graders, but it is also kind of saying this is something you can do when you go to college.”

Kaine Krause, a 13-year-old eighth-grade student at Barnes, said the expo gave him some insight into not only a high school career pathway but maybe a pathway into his future after that.

While visiting with representative’s from the city’s IT department, Kaine left impressed and thinking about a possible future in the field.

Harboring interests in information technology, cabling and more, the expo opened future options for the young scholar, Kaine said.

“I’m taking welding. I know that for sure,” he said. “But IT, I’m definitely interested in that as well.”

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