By: Sarah Marble/Senior Feature Editor & Christie Baldwin/Senior Writer
On Friday, November 1, 2019, the second college and career cafe cluster took place in the main gym from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. The cluster, open to both middle and high school students, attracted 231 visitors and 22 vendors and was organized by Dawn McHale, the Middle School’s guidance counselor.
She said that the event was, “very successful.” McHale also gave the Raider Reader an inside scoop on the benefits on the events; she stated, “how the quarterly College and Career Cluster Fair is set up allows students to have the opportunity to explore multiple career fields throughout the year.”
Colleges and training schools that attended the cluster included: Empire Beauty School, Johnson College of Technology, Keystone College, Penn State Worthington-Scranton, and the Trans American Technical Institute.
Vendors from the career fields of the arts, A/V technology, communication, business management, administration, education, training, and finance all attended the event. The vendors included:
- Allstate
- Broadway Theater of NEPA
- Conklin Dance Academy
- Construct Adventure
- Elk Advisors Group
- Endless Mountains Studios
- Everhart Museum
- Forever Bouquets by Judy
- H&R Block
- Headstart Childcare
- Northern Tier Industry & Education Consortium (NTIEC)
- Susquehanna Independent (Newspaper)
- Weekender (Newspaper)
- Kades-Margolis (financial group)
- Honesdale National Bank
- TreHab (Director of Transportation)
- Talk Shirty To Me (graphic design/printing)
- WBRE+
McHale added that “all participants are local and from the community.” She also explained that “there are some great career opportunities locally, and our hope is to debunk the belief that you have to leave this area to have a great career.”
Another college and career cluster will be coming to Blue Ridge on January, 1st, 2020 from 8:30-11:30 a.m. It is open to all 5th-12th grade students.
The next cluster will focus on these five career clusters:
- Government and Public Administration
- Health Sciences
- Hospitality and Tourism
- Human Services
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
The colleges confirmed to attend include:
- Keystone College
- The University of Scranton
- Penn State Worthington-Scranton
- SCCTC Programs
If any student is interested in the next event, be sure to sign up in your flex period so you will have the opportunity to attend.
