Stafford Students Chart Their Futures at Annual Career Expo
Event furthers division's goal of ensuring students are prepared for life after graduation.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Eva Garcia-Moreya is already enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve. She plans to go through the Marine Corps’ Platoon Leaders Course and become a Marine officer.
Onolee Slaten wants to attend the University of Mary Washington, major in biotechnology, and minor in psychology.
And Ethan Flores-Alexander, also a senior at Brooke Point, isn’t yet sure which of four colleges is his top choice and whether he wants to study engineering or psychology.
Though these students—all seniors at Stafford’s Brooke Point High School—are at very different stages of planning for their post-high school careers, they all attended the Chart Your Future expo organized by Stafford County Schools on Wednesday with confidence that they’d come away with something of value.
The third annual event for high school seniors brought together 116 exhibitors representing two- and four-year colleges, branches of the military, and employers in the fields of transportation, operations, and logistics; business, IT, and communications; engineering and skilled trades; hospitality and human services; law, education, and public service; and health and medicine.
“Even though I’ve have already joined [the Marine Corps], it’s still important to stay informed [about what other options are available],” Eva said. “Connections are so valuable.”
Onolee said she’d be scoping out internship opportunities in medical research. She’d already talked to an admissions counselor from UMW that morning and had gotten a fee waiver for her application.
Ethan said he’d be able to talk to representatives from each of the four colleges he’s considering and hoped to be able to settle on a top choice by the end of the morning.
The annual expo ties to the #1 goal of the school division as laid out in its strategic plan, which is to ensure “meaningful post-secondary outcomes for every student, prepared for life after graduation.”
The first objective under that goal is that “every high school student will have a plan to be employed, enlisted, and/or enrolled in a post-secondary institution upon graduation.”
“Our goal is to support students and make sure they are exposed to opportunities to inform their decision-making,” said Marcia Rice, executive director for high school leadership, who organized the Chart Your Future expo along with Nikki Jackson, coordinator for family and student engagement.
The duo started planning this year’s event immediately after last year’s event was over. This year saw an increase in both the number of exhibitors and the number of students who attended.
“I think word is getting out that it’s a valuable event,” Jackson said. “Hearing students talk about how valuable it is to make connections is encouraging.”
One of the changes this year is that exhibitors were organized by career cluster, catering both to students who know what they want to do and those who want to see everything that’s available.
Another is that students were asked to fill out a booklet as they went through the exposition. The booklet includes sections for students to identify exhibitors to visit, checklists of next steps, and space to record their reflections.
On Decision Day in May, when the division celebrates each graduating students’ plan—whether it’s employment, enlistment, or enrollment—the students will be able to use the booklet to see how far they’ve progressed.
School Board member Susan Randall attended the expo and said it serves as “a gentle way” of introducing students to the multitude of career options available to them.
“From an early age, kids need to be able to see themselves in different careers,” Randall said. “We don’t want to cater to any one type of mindset,” whether it be college- or workforce-oriented.
Brooke Point High School senior Jared Kessler spent his morning at the expo talking to Navy recruiters to get a better understanding of the application process for the Naval Academy.
“I want to make connections,” he said.
Matthew Lee, a senior at Stafford High School, said he’s interested in a career in either law or medicine, both of which have a myriad of subsets and specialties. He was looking forward to networking with exhibitors in these fields in the hopes of narrowing his focus.
“I want to walk out of here knowing, ‘That’s what I want to do,’” he said.
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