Annual event connects more than 500 students with 100
professionals in dozens of fields
Gilroy – Lessons from all walks of life replaced talk of math and science in classrooms this week, as hundreds of Gilroy High School students met with dentists, firefighters, reporters – even a hypnotherapist – in hopes of charting a career path.
The school’s annual Career Fair, held Thursday night, connected more than 500 students with 100 professionals in dozens of fields.
Students spent two hours probing issues such as bias in journalism, the dangers of firefighting and the use of computers to create animation and video games.
The latter drew some of the biggest crowds across each of the four evening sessions.
“I liked how they work on the computer a lot and how they’re designing things you see on video games and on T.V., like Monsters Inc.,” said freshman Thomas Costa. “The speaker said that … he didn’t know anything about digital design when he started, and now he’s designing things for video games. It sounds pretty cool to me. I think that would be a good career.”
The fair received a shot of energy this year through the support of Leadership Gilroy, a nonprofit group that teaches several dozen city staff and residents each year on civic life and leadership.
Each year the group organizes a major community program as part of its curriculum. Last year’s class organized an educational day at Bonfante Gardens for local fourth graders. This year’s class chose to focus on older students.
“The whole (Leadership Gilroy) class voted on about eight different proposals and all of them had things to do with the teenage group,” said Paula Goldsmith, a program participant and co-chair of the Thursday event. “I knew there had been a career fair in the past and wanted to make sure it could be carried forward, so we had this event and created a template for years to come.”
To ensure the success of the program, the leadership group left behind a written blueprint with details about organizing committees and arranging for speakers. And to keep things relevant, the group surveyed students about their interests beforehand and conducted research on the fastest growing businesses, such as computer science and digital design.
City Clerk Rhonda Pellin, a graduate of the 2000 Leadership Gilroy class, volunteered Thursday to help keep the event running smoothly. She lauded the efforts of this year’s class.
“This is something nobody had tried before,” Pellin said. “The high school age group was a good target. The career fair gives them an idea of what’s out there and it gives them a network of people they can talk to.”
