On November 22nd, 2024, Meridian School will hold its annual Career Fair. The annual fair is a day for parents to showcase their occupations to aspiring students in search for their future career. As highly educated, qualified individuals who are skilled in their field, they are eager to provide a safe space for students to ask any and all questions they may have in their career journey.
The best aspect of the Career Fair is its ability to encourage students who are unsure of their passions to find their purpose. Nathan Fontenot, a parent participating in the fair, stated that “the Career Fair is important to give students the opportunity to explore a wide range of career opportunities that they may not have known about.”
One great part of Career Fair is the sheer amount of occupations present for students to explore: Sarah Gardner, Director of Community Engagement at Meridian, wrote “We look for as diverse a mix as possible, from creative pursuits, to the medical field, construction, plumbing, everything in between.”
Though this is true, success does not come without obstacles. The main coordinators of the event, Sarah Gardner and Lynda Chapel, faced the challenge of finding qualified people in demanding jobs such as the medical field, as their jobs require them to be working for the majority of the workday, thereby making it hard for them to speak at the fair. However, Garner and Chapel were able to overcome this hurdle by maintaining logistical affairs, organization, extensive planning, and many, many emails.
Throughout the years, the career fair has been a major success. Though this is true, improvements must always be made. The coordinators have listened to feedback and have made the necessary changes to ensure students have more time to talk with the workers. This included providing “passports” for the students to take around during the fair, checking if they went to multiple booths. They simplified these passports so the focus stays on learning rather than checking boxes.
One of the greatest benefits of Career Day is the ability to network with adults and collect contact information for potential opportunities in the future, and sometimes even internships. By having access to specialists in diverse fields of interest, students can ask for advice and receive helpful tips and tricks for how to progress their career paths, a perk that is best achieved at the fair.
According to Yaseen Aswad, a student particularly inclined towards working in the medical field, “the career fair is helpful in seeing the specific parts of the career and learning testimonies to apply to real life, from experienced people, keeping me motivated.” Lucas Cunha, a student interested in the military, stated, “I really want to be in the military and the career fair really helps me to see if I still want that career because it has many pros and cons, whereas in everyday school, they don’t really talk about the military.”
All in all, we can see that the career fair is not only a special day to thank those in the workforce, but also to inspire change and innovation with up and coming generations. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
