On January 25, the tenth grade class attended the Lafayette Economic Development Authority’s annual Career Connections expo. This expo was established to provide “tenth grade students an opportunity to invest in their futures.” While at the expo, the students “explored a variety of career options and met the people who perform these jobs on a daily basis.” The students also visited a “Reality Store” where they “were able to select a home, transportation, and other needs for daily living” in order to learn the “costs of food, financing, utilities, medical care, child care, and insurance.” By learning the cost of living and the projected salaries of their future careers, students began planning what lifestyle fits in with their career.

As a whole, students enjoyed walking around and learning about the various career options in our community. Taylor Domingue said she “loved how the medical stations had actual medical equipment to demonstrate certain situations.” Domingue, like many others, were drawn to the booths with hands-on props. Lafayette’s Stuller Company did an excellent job of providing students with an interactive booth. They had a man designing a ring on a computer with a monitor for students to watch, two ladies working with different wax molds used to make rings, and one man actually setting stones in a ring. Students also were drawn to the Marines Corps pull-up bar; challenging each other to do the most pull-ups. Grace Sheets enjoyed talking to people who had jobs she was interested in because they were able to answer her questions. Overall, Career Connections was a much needed and well enjoyed expo for the sophomore class.