MANCHESTER – Township high school students once again took part in the Ocean County Vocational Technical School (OCVTS) Career Fair and are also gaining valuable career training through the school district’s internship program.
The career fair came about through a partnership between OCVTS and the Manchester Township School District. The students who participated had the opportunity to explore various future career opportunities.
This is not a new event however. The career fair is normally held in partnership with the OCVTS every two years. This event allowed for peer-to-peer interaction and discussion to occur between enrolled students and those who were interested in learning more about the programs available to them at OCVTS.
Each grade level was given the opportunity to visit the career fair exposing students to multiple programs and opportunities.
The programs represented included automotive technology, cosmetology, design and visual communications, fashion design, audio engineering, heavy equipment operator, plumbing, medical assistant, collision repair, dental assisting, health and fitness, childcare and the OCVTS general information table.
MTHS Guidance Counselor Shannon Findlow said the program “allows students to be exposed to multiple career training areas that OCVTS offers. It is important that we expose all of our students to various potential career paths.
“I thought it was a different experience. It made me realize what I truly want to get involved in. It was very enjoyable,” high school student Nicholas Van Wagner said.
Student Kasai Pharmes said, “it was an enjoyable and eye-opening experience. I am excited to pursue electrical trades.”
“It was great! It was eye opening and I met a lot of people. I got to see what people are passionate about and I chose to then apply for one of the programs,” student Johnathan Corona-Morales remarked.
He added, “the fair offered something unique this year in that current and former township high school students who attended OCVTS were facilitating the career fair with their instructors.”
The school district has also been working in reference to helping students with building their resume through internship opportunities.
The high school offers a Structured Learning Experience class taught by Maryann Adams and Bri McKiernan. This class provides students the opportunity to develop critical technical, academic, and employability skills necessary for work readiness by preparing and placing students in a real work environment.
SLE I, held in the fall, includes career research, pursuing a career, and workplace environment. SLE II, held in the spring, includes an internship in a professional work environment. Sixteen SLE II students are currently out in the community exploring working in internship positions.
For example, one student is working with Hazelet Realty Group’s graphic design team. Another MTHS student is working as an intern at Hanlon’s K9 LLC to learn about dog training.
Opportunities like this give the high school students opportunities to test something out to see if they like it before making a career of it. It saves time and money spent on training or tuition if it turns out that they’d rather be doing something else.
If they do choose to pursue this field, the internships give them a valuable head start that can be listed on a resume, officials said. They might even be able to show them a finished product, made while they were an intern, that they can show to future employers.
