County seniors get a glimpse of business world during Career Expo

Seniors from Chester, Lewisville and Great Falls high schools streamed through the doors at the Gateway Conference Center to get some info on the businesses and industries in Chester County that might be their future employers.

Although the rain kept the displays and exhibits inside, that didn’t stop the students from visiting the many booths set up by the likes of the City of Chester, the SCDOT and Highway Patrol, Roseburg Forest Products and the U.S. Coast Guard (at the Expo for the first time).

“The Expo is going better than expected,” said Chester County School District Global Career Development Facilitator Abby Brunson the day of the event.

“The students are animated, asking good questions, interacting with the business and industry reps and the displays are so much better this year. I think word has gotten out about the Expo throughout the business community and they’re really working hard to lure our students in to their areas and talking to them once they get them there.

“The conversations have been great and the students have been great,” she said. She was complimented by the Giti Tire representatives who told her they had seen a great group of students.

The students took their conversation starter questions seriously and asked intelligent questions of the business and industry reps, Brunson said. Many businesses caught the students’ attention with interactive displays.

The City of Chester set up a Jeopardy-style question and answer game that tested how much students knew about city operations.

More of the businesses and industries had interactive displays, but the most popular one had to be the large Jenga-style stacking game brought by the reps from J.M. Cope construction. Students were invited to take the wooden blocks and stack them in a stable form as high as they could in 15 seconds.

The purpose of the game, the J.M. Cope booth rep said was to teach students that everything begins with a strong foundation, whether it’s a career or a stack of wood blocks in a stacking game.