Leesville’s first career fair

Julie Pennington, CTE teacher and a co-chair of the Business Alliance Commitee with Kay Floyd had a clear purpose for the fair.

“We wanted to bring the business community into the school to teach students how to be successful in the business community,” said Pennington.

The afternoon began by assembling in the cafeteria, amidst colorful signs and balloons in LRHS colors.

There, the students were separated into three groups: the blue group, green group, and white group. Each group followed their color balloons to three different stations.

First, there was a station on interviewing entitled “The Do’s and Don’t’s of Interviewin’.” Stacey Horowitz, entrepreneur, spoke at this station. With the help of CTE teachers James Hardy and Roseanne Monteleone, Horowitz used role play as a method of demonstrating a good and a bad job interview. Hardy and Monteleone would act out a poor interview, and Horowtiz would give tips to improve it. She encouraged the use of a strong handshake, looking the interviewer in the eye, smiling and using good posture.

All three groups then reassembled in the pit of the cafeteria to hear Dr. Marc Gottlieb speak. Gottlieb is the

chiropractor who opened Carolina Chiropractic. He was insightful, speaking primarily about taking advantage of strengths when searching for a career.

“People have a lot of different gifts and talents; you just have to parlay them into opportunities,” he wisely told the students.

The three groups then separated again, going to their second stations. This station was about resume building and writing. Marie Shanley, the quality manager for CARQUEST, and Beth Rea, the web content manager for John Deere spoke about how to write a professional resume.

“It is important to keep it looking professional. All one font, no pictures or clip art, and keep the information professional– no job experience supported by family members.” Rea said, “That just looks tacky.”

The third and final station concerned appropriate attire for business. It was called “Dress for Success” and was hosted by CTE teachers Ms Giles and Ms Plumber. It began with a bad example of a work outfit, followed by simple replacements to create an appropriate outfit.

All in all, the career fair was and informative, well organized experience.

Matthew-Janes Rivera, senior and CTE student, summed it all up best when he said, “It was definitely a good opportunity to get professional insight on different careers.”

Alex Schuler, Senior Editor