Community Pulse: 8th grade career fair prepares Grundy students for Grundy jobs

All 1,500 8th grade students from in and around Grundy County will descend on the Morris High School fieldhouse on Tuesday, October 29th, for the annual Hands-On 8th Grade Career Fair.

Begun in 2015, the Hands-On 8th Grade Career Fair is a fall expo that demonstrates the wide variety of careers available here in Grundy County so that the students are better prepared to pick their freshman classes in the spring. The event is co-hosted by GAVC and the Community Foundation of Grundy County and funded by the donor-designed Twilight Fund at CFGC.

If, as a result of the fair, students know that they want to go to GAVC in their junior year, they can schedule their freshman and sophomore classes so that they have free time their junior and senior years for GAVC. If students get a feel for which major they want to study in college, they can start choosing related classes freshman year in case they need four years of a particular subject, such as math.

This career fair is a school field trip day for 8th graders, so no need for families to sign up.

We are also seeking companies in and around Grundy County to come have a booth. This is not a Chamber event to encourage 8th graders to buy your goods and services. Instead, it is for careers to demonstrate the skills needed for particular jobs. So instead of each bank having a booth, area banks can partner to staff the all-day booth and demonstrate the various careers in banking and the education and training needed to do those jobs. Companies are welcome to partner with others or have a stand-alone booth.

However, each booth must have a hands-on activity for students. In the past, the law enforcement has had the students race wearing driver-impaired simulator goggles. Restaurants have had students race with serving trays full of plastic glasses – try not to drop them! Area warehouses have had students race to see who can properly package goods for shipping.

The Grundy Area Vocational Center brings all of their programs and current GAVC students show the 8th graders what their programs do, whether cosmetology, health occupations, computer technology, agriculture, or culinary arts.

GAVC also partners with the trades for demonstrations. Students can explore welding, automotive tech, building trades, and heavy equipment operating.

Joliet Junior College brings a number of their programs, including culinary arts and the veterinary technician program.

Area firefighters, law enforcement, game wardens, and the military bring vehicles for outdoor demonstrations where the students get to try on gear and race one another to see how mentally and physically demanding these careers can be.

If your company is large and you have many departments, you can be like Morris Hospital and have many booths – one for each department.

We are also happy to see our area utility companies have booths. In addition to careers, they also teach safety, such as what natural gas leaks smell like.

And let’s not forget our area nonprofits and social services. Students learn what it takes to serve people with disabilities, seniors, young children, and low income adults.Please be sure to contact me or Devan at devan@cfgrundycounty.com to reserve a booth (or 2!) or to brainstorm what your hands-on activity can be. We have no shortage of creativity!

If you want to partner on a booth, Devan can connect you with similar companies. The deadline for booth reservations is Friday, October 11th.

If you are still unsure and want ideas, please look at past years’ fair photos on our CFGC Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064534906276

If you are an area school with 8th graders, please watch your email for details for choosing your field trip time slot.

Thank you to the schools, GAVC, and booth vendors for your dedication to this event – it is because of you that this career fair continues to be a success!

Julianne Buck is the Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Grundy County, located at 520 W. Illinois Avenue in the historic Coleman Hardware Building in Morris. Their phone is 815-941-0852 and her email is julie@cfgrundycounty.com.