Mazama High hosts second annual College and Career Fair
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More than 1,200 students participate, 80 booths
More than 1,200 students visited 80 booths at the second annual Mazama High School College and Career Fair.
This year the fair expanded, including more schools and more businesses, employers, military branches, colleges and universities. Students came from 14 high schools and junior high schools to attend the event to learn about potential options for their futures.
“We need to expand our networking skills,” said Mazama senior Thomas Zacharias, 18, “because 80 percent of jobs now-a-days are taken by people who have known someone in that job. This is a great way of expanding your networking skills.”
The participating schools were: Mazama High School, Henley High School, Klamath Union High School, Lost River High School, Lakeview High School, Bonanza High School, Chiloquin High School, EagleRidge High School, Hosanna Christian Academy, Triad School, Falcon Heights Academy, Great Basin Home School, Brixner Junior High and Henley Middle School. About 34 Mazama students volunteered at the fair.
Mazama counselor Jessica Radmaker Reichardt and Mazama pathway advisor Armando Ojeda organized the fair and Zacharias assisted as part of his senior project. Zacharias previously helped organize freshman orientation and the Mazama college night.
At the college and career fair Zacharias helped with organizing the booths for the event, contacting businesses and deciding who went where. Because of the increase in participants, the fair filled both the main Vikings gym and the adjacent upper gym.
“We spread it out a little to give participants more space,” Radmaker Reichardt said. “Upstairs we featured health and science.”
She estimated two to three people at each booth. With 80 booths, that amounted to between 160 and 240 participants. Businesses also benefit from the fair by meeting potential employees in the students who visit their booths.
Students spoke with participants and wrote notes. Some participated in hands-on activities, such as medical procedures on dummies, trying on military and police equipment, or meeting animals from a veterinary clinic.
“It’s learning options,” Zacharias said. “It shows your future and helps you guide yourself.”
Zacharias has his path after high school set: to become a military policeman in the U.S. Marine Corps. He arrived at that decision by making lists of his options and speaking with recruiters.
“The Marine Corps is one of those branches where it’s the best of the best,” he said. “I’m third generation in my family. There’s pride.”
Want to participate next year?
Contact Mazama School Counselor Jessica Radmaker Reichardt at: radmakerj@kcsd.k12.or.us or 541-851-8834.
Press release provided from Samantha Tippler, Public Relations, Klamath County School District.
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