(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Outside of Banning Lewis Preparatory Academy, trucks for all different professional fields sat out front waiting to greet students. This is part of the Career on Wheels event that encourages students to explore a wide variety of professions throughout Southern Colorado.
Urban Tails was one of the event attendees, specializing in home veterinary services.
“There are a lot of people out there who are immobile themselves and have a difficult time getting to the vet personally,” said Veterinary Assistant for Urban Tails, Valeria Laplant. “But there are a lot of animals out there who fear going to the vet.”
All throughout the day, students eagerly approached the different trucks to ask questions about skills needed for the job, as well as the best parts of it.
“I think actually them asking those questions about how they can get involved before college, I think that’s really important,” Laplant said. “So, us coming out here to be able to answer those questions and let them know that they can get involved before they actually have to go to college, that’s really important.”
Students at Banning Lewis Preparatory Academy spoke with many different career professionals on Wednesday.
One student, Zoe Dowsett, shared why this event is so important for helping students understand the multiple job opportunities available.
“We’re kind of just going around to each car and learning about what they do and how they help the world,” said Dowsett.
FOX21’s Storm Team Meteorologist Ryan Matoush explained his job to students during the Careers on Wheels event.
Career fairs like this one have an immense impact on the students’ lives, specifically as it can help them build their class schedule when heading into high school.
“We’re hoping that by exposing them to different careers, that when they transition into high school next year, they have an idea of a path that they would like to go on,” said Jennifer Welch, Eighth Grade Student Counselor. “Is it a college path or is it a career path? And they may not know all the answers, but maybe they’ll have more of an idea of what path they would like to take so they can focus in for high school.”
Students gathered around a poster board to better understand one occupation.
Another student, Ashlynn Mazza, expressed why she enjoyed talking to different people at the career fair, highlighting the unique jobs and insights she gained.
“I think it’s important because as we’re getting older and up to high school type,” Mazza said. “We’re going to start going to college and then after that, we’d have to like start going to jobs and then this will help us get to know what you like.”
At the end of the day, an event like this one is helping to inspire the future Southern Colorado workforce but also showcases the many different career routes.
“Get them inspired to do those things before they actually have to go to school so that they know how they can get involved and inspire them to do those things before they actually have to go to school,” said Laplant.
