Herndon Elementary Students Explore Job Options At Career Fair

HERNDON, VA — For the 25th year in a row, Herndon Elementary students had the opportunity to explore job options Thursday as part of the annual Career Fair in the school gym.

About 40 people volunteered to talk about their careers at the first in-person Career Fair at the school in two years. The last two fairs were conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We have so many interests," said Tiffany Bryant, the HES counselor who organized Thursday's event. "We have fashion designers. We have teachers. We have too many kids who want to be YouTubers these days. Makeup artists. President. With the little kids, we have princesses and superheroes."

One of the students who visited the Patch reporter's table said she wanted to be a CEO. When asked why, she said she wanted to make money.

"That's what a lot of them say when they don't know what they want to do," Bryant said. "I try and tell them to be somebody that can be passionate about what they do. So, what are your interests, your hobbies? Turn it into a passion."

Some of the careers that students who stopped by the Patch reporter's table said they wanted to be soccer players, firefighters, singers, and actors.

Sixth grader Caroline Davis already has a leg up on her career choice of being a broadcast reporter. She records a weekly video news report for the school.

"I want to cover real world stuff," she said. "I know sometimes people hide some information. I really want to tell the real truth about information and stuff like that."

Once when Davis was watching the news, she heard something that didn't seem right and did a little research on her own.

"I watched an old news clip and they were talking about something and they were hiding important information and they're skipping over different events," she said. "I really want to make sure that if I do become a reporter or broadcaster that I won't skip over that."