MOUNT VERNON — OhioMeansJobs Knox County gave nearly 1,200 area students the chance to find their future passion on Wednesday.
The organization brought employers and educators together for the second-ever youth career exploration event at Mount Vernon’s Energy Fieldhouse.
Brandy Booth, a workforce administrator for OMJ Knox County, said the the event was to help address growing concerns around a workforce shortage.
“We talk to employers all the time, and what we’ve known over the last probably five, six, seven years is there’s a concern about a workforce shortage and engaging the emerging workforce,” Booth said.
“So, we wanted to give them opportunities to see what is in their backyard.”
A steering committee composed of educators, employers, OhioMeansJobs staff members and the Knox County Chamber of Commerce reached out to organizations to table at the event.
“All of our businesses have volunteered their time and resources to be here today, and it’s just a lot of conversations with them,” Booth said.
“We’re trying to build a pipeline of workers for them.”
Opportunities available at the fieldhouse
Booth said all career clusters were available to students, except for transportation.
For next year, Booth plans to “work harder” to include transportation.
We have 44 businesses here today. We have four skill stations and a virtual reality station as well.
Ohiomeansjobs workforce administrator brandy booth
The event served individuals ages 14 to 24 from across Knox County, including homeschool students.
“If you’re a Knox County youth in that age range, you could register to come,” Booth said.
“Coordinating with the schools, we have every county school, all the eighth graders, and all the tenth graders.”
Getting eighth graders and tenth graders in front of employers was calculated.
“So in our discussions with our employers and mostly with our educators, we know that in eighth grade, they need to start thinking about high school and what courses they are going to take in high school, and what they are going to do after high school,” Booth said.
“Then in 10th grade, they’re making decisions. They need to decide, ‘Am I going to the Career Center? Am I going to do College Credit Plus? Am I going to do both? Am I going into the workforce? What do I need to do?’
“So this gives them an opportunity to talk to employers and find out. Then we have education providers that they can stop and say, ‘Hey, do you have this program?'”
(Below is a photo gallery of some of the employers present at the event.)
