INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — JA JobSpark returned to the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Tuesday.
By Thursday afternoon, more than 15,000 eighth-graders were scheduled to attend Junior Achievement of Central Indiana’s job fair.
The activities were scheduled to take place in three buildings on the fair grounds, and students were to learn about careers in eight different sections that organizers called career clusters.
These clusters are: Architecture, Engineering and Construction; Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering, Logistics; Business and Finance; Government, Law and Public Services; Health and Life Sciences; Hospitality and Tourism; and Technology.
Molly Baines, director of JA JobSpark, says it’s important to show students what’s out there: “It’s a lot of fun. It’s totally different to a normal job fair – it’s very interactive and hands-on. We don’t hand out as many brochures or flyers or anything like that – it allows students to actually go in and try out the facilities.”
Each cluster had activities in place that allowed the children to experience different professions. Experts from each industry were present to talk about their jobs.
Beth Petrucci, community engagement director for healthcare provider Ascension St. Vincent, helped rally volunteers for the event. She led the organizing for the health and life sciences cluster. Petrucci said the event was a great opportunity to engage the next generation.
“The cluster is always so excited when the students leave,” Petrucci says. “It’s pretty big, and all the organizations work together to provide these activities for the students so that they realize, ‘Oh, this is the kind of job I always thought I wanted to have when I grew up, but this is a really cool new job that I didn’t even know existed.'”
“You learn everything from formal ways to make a living to informal ways,” said Don Steffe, executive director of the Indianapolis Ballet, who helped organize the hospitality and tourism cluster. Students have had the opportunity to try out sports broadcasting, talk with IndyCar drivers and fly in a flight simulator. “You learn everything from formal ways to make a living to informal ways. It’s fun for the kids. It’s fast-paced.”
A new feature of the 2024 Job Fair is the Campus Corner, where students can hear stories of their experiences from local university students.
