PANAMA CITY — High school seniors needing additional support to find a postgraduate opportunity attended the third annual Career Connections on Tuesday to learn about careers available in Bay County.
The event was sponsored by the Bay County Chamber of Commerce with the help of various businesses and was held at Gulf Coast State College. Approximately 150 students attended from local high schools.
“The goal is to give these kids an opportunity to see what kinds of jobs are available in Bay County,” said Lisa Barnes, chairwoman of the chamber’s education task force and a project manager at Eastern Shipbuilding Group. “The students were selected by guidance counselors and the kids are generally not college-bound but are looking for career opportunities.”
Mosley High School seniors Stevon Richard and Cody Watford both attended Career Connections to help get additional career guidance. Richard said he wants a career in law enforcement or the military while Watford favored a career that involved computers.
Before the event, students took a Myers Briggs personality test to help the organizers divide the students into groups. The student groups were created to highlight professions that would be of potential interest to the students’ personalities.
For example, students who favored “sensing and perceiving” as strong personality traits learned about being a veterinary technician. Students judged as “intuitive and feeling” learned about careers in massage therapy and marketing.
“When I was 18 years old, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, not that I didn’t want to go to college or wouldn’t, but I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” said Tammy Dunaway, who was a speaker and is the current executive director at Girls Inc.
Dunaway held a variety of jobs before enrolling in the first massage therapy program at Haney Technical Center. Following a 15-year career as a massage therapist, Dunaway returned to Gulf Coast State College for an associate’s degree. Dunaway continued her education at Florida State University Panama City (FSU PC) and is currently working on a masters at Troy University.
“Massage therapy put me through Gulf Coast and FSU PC,” Dunaway told a group of students. “Go for the stepping stones to get you to where you want to be.”
Keynote speaker John Ed McDanal, district manager for Gulf Power, advised students to be prepared, take pride in one’s work and dress appropriately. He also encouraged students to take tedious tasks they may be assigned and turn them into an advantage.
“Take something that you think is bad and find the silver lining,” McDanal said. “You take that task and do the best you can do and get a sense of accomplishment.”
Marqui LaFrance, a senior at Bay High, said he was not sure what he wanted to do when he graduated high school. After hearing a dentist speak at the event about various dental careers, he decided that would be a path he was interested in pursuing.
“There are a lot of opportunities for students in Bay County and there are career opportunities for students who aren’t necessarily college-bound,” Barnes said.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment