Jessieville gives students glimpse into their futures
JESSIEVILLE — Jessieville High School recently held the Passport to Your Future event for grades 9-12 with more than 50 guest speakers from local business and industry, college representatives, transition representatives and Altrusa Volunteers to educate students about careers and future college plans.
The goal of the event was to expose students to a diverse sampling of people in careers within each of the career clusters to gain a better understanding of how the programs at Jessieville and via distance learning and National Park College can connect to their career tracks. Students were able to select three of the career cluster areas and the college recruitment/transition session or attend four career cluster sessions, which were selected through a registration process.
Instructors for the agriculture, foods and natural resources career cluster were Joe Weston and Bradley Higgins, game wardens from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission; Jason Armitage, National Park College; Dennis Eskew, retired; and Corey Eskew, with Entergy. Eskew was accompanied by Zack Barker, Toby Byrd, Gage Cockman, Corey George and Stephen Hibbard to lead a safety demonstration.
Sessions in the business, marketing and management cluster were led by Robbie Davis, Wells Fargo financial adviser; Regina Bates, from U.S. Bank; Jim Sparks, owner of Home Plate; and Joey Clampit, owner of the Clampits Country Kitchen and Meat Market.
Instructors for communication and technology careers were led by Suzanna Sweeten, retired journalist; Betsey Brashears, photographer; and Rodney Ivers, computer science instructor at National Park College.
The health science, criminal justice, and public safety sessions were led by Susan Semmler, optometry specialist; Teresa Gewinner, retired registered nurse; Michael Butler, pharmacist and owner of Health Mart; Shannon Combs, speech pathologist; and Mike Wiles, director of National Park Technology Center.
The cluster of human services and education included sessions by Don Phillips, retired educator and Linda Smith, retired special education instructor.
Sessions in the industrial and engineering technology cluster were led by Mary Knight, retired engineer; Michael Dollar, industrial engineer and executive director of Hot Springs Village Area Chamber of Commerce; and Pam Avila, Silicon Valley consultant.
Vell Meredith Library housed opportunities for college, transition, and military information from Arkansas Tech University, National Park College, Henderson State University, University of Central Arkansas, Southern Arkansas University, University of Arkansas, United States Army, Upward Bound, Arkansas Career Training Institute, Difference Makers of Hot Springs, Disability Rights Arkansas, Kindred Hospice and Arkansas Hospice.
Volunteers from Altrusa provided hosted the hospitality room. Students in the high school student council, Environmental and Spatial Technology program and Business Procedures class also volunteered at the event.
The district plans to host a career fair for middle school students on March 7. Potential partners should call DeAnn Bliss at 501-915-2332 or email cara.bliss@ jsdlions.net.