Career Fair Connects Central Middle School Students With Professionals

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — Central Middle School students may not have made up their minds about their future vocations at the school career fair April 26, but it was the professionals and businesses that had all the fun.

Dozens of professionals and business owners packed the CMS gymnasium, including a superintendent/project manager, veterinarian, village trustee, state rep, professional organizer, librarian, physical therapist, architectural and theatrical lighting designer, property manager, security system administrator, business owner, college professor RN childbirth educator, architect, journalist and a typewriter poet.

Sixth, seventh and eighth grade students had the chance to learn about career areas and what their futures may hold after high school and college. The career fair was hosted by Central’s National Junior Honor Society with their faculty advisor, Deborah Gibbons.

“My hope for the career fair is that students are exposed to a variety of careers and learn about some they may be interested in pursuing in their future,” Gibbons said, whose husband, Kevin, passed on his wisdom about being a construction consultant. “I also hope that they see that working hard in school gives them an opportunity for them to be successful adults with successful and fulfilling careers.”

Professionals were paired off with an NJHS student. Eighth-grader Adam Bosch ably assisted Patch by taking pictures of the fair. He also showed off the typewriter loaned to us by typewriter aficionado Glenn Pniewski, of the Evergreen Park Recreation Department.

Students came with pre-prepared questions, such as job challenges, special tools and equipment, and how much money someone in their profession made.

“I don’t know if students picked careers for their future but I heard several students about careers they never knew existed,” Gibbons said. “For example, some of the kids that talked to Kevin were excited to know that trade school is an option that they have and can be successful without traditional college.”