EXETER — Students at Wyoming Area High School were given a chance to start thinking about the future.
Representatives of Pennsylvania CareerLink were at the school this past week to talk to students and parents about potential career choices.
PA CareerLink’s primary mission is to help those seeking jobs by offering resume workshops, job search assistance, training opportunities and more.
According to Dr. Jon Pollard, high school principal, the presenters discussed the value of certain careers and how students can take the necessary steps towards those careers, particularly jobs in Luzerne County.
“This is one of the areas that I really think we need to look at,” Pollard said. “We have kids who leave school, and not just here but any school, who leave and say, ‘I want to be this when I grow up.’ If they want to stay in this area, they may not want that particular job.”
Several presentations were held throughout the day and were conducted by Christine Jensen, PA CareerLink administrator.
Jensen spoke about how students and parents can log onto the organization’s website to review potential jobs in the area and learn about the expected growth of those jobs.
Jensen also mentioned returning to the school at the end of February.
“(We’ve) been partnering with local high schools and school districts to get the word out to students about where the jobs are, how do you explore the jobs, and that’s one of the things we’re going to be doing with them later in February,” she said. “We’re going to be in here doing interest assessments where they’ll sit down, take an interest assessment and give them some ideas.”
There were also representatives from local colleges — LCCC, Lackawanna and Penn State — whom Pollard said were there for people to talk to after the presentations.
“The idea was to have parents and families come out of the presentation going, ‘Here are the five areas that are going to be in high demand,’ and then we have three colleges that are local that offer programs to meet the needs for those careers.”
Pollard said the presentations were geared more towards high school students, but parents and adults could attend, as well.
Sharon Traglia, of Wyoming, and Miranda Paniagua, of Exeter, both parents of students in the Wyoming Area School District, were in attendance for one of the presentations.
Traglia said she attended the presentation because her daughter is a junior at Wyoming Area and she is looking for ways to help her prepare for life after high school.
“I’m going to look at these resources that are online that they referred us to,” she said. “And I’m going to look at the careers, especially in this area and in Pennsylvania, that are the most upcoming careers. It can help to guide her as to what career to go into.”
Paniagua’s son is also a junior at Wyoming Area.
She said he isn’t sure what he wants to do after high school, and she hoped she could take some information back to him to help him find a career he might like.
“I know he’s into art,” she said. “I haven’t really looked through everything, but I did ask them at the Luzerne County tables if they have anything dealing with art, and they do. So, I’m going to look through there and let him look through and see if there’s anything he might be interested in.”
