Many high school students would go to the mall to go shopping, but a group of 60+ students went to the mall to attend the ESSDACK Career Expo. Jobs for America’s Graduates Kansas (JAGK) went to the Hutchinson Mall on Nov. 5/6 to explore and gain new knowledge on post high school education.

“I can’t even tell you how many vendors there were. If you consider how expensive it would be to go to all of those schools and do a campus visit and tour of each and every one of those, would be very expensive to plan those all those trips, so it was a really cost effective way for our students to get a lot of exposure to some different opportunities,” JAGK graduates instructor for 11th and 12th graders Sarah Bishop said.

JAGK students could visit multiple college booths and see what they had to offer. Many booths had an interactive element incorporated into them to engage with the students.

“There was this one college and they had online for business and I want to go into a business for social work,” sophomore Marah Frary said. “Just the fact that going to the career fair, and like seeing the opportunities that had, it really opened your eyes.”

In many ways, the Career Expo helped students know what career they may or may not want to go into.

“I had in mind what college I wanted to go to, Eric Fisher, and going to the expo really enforced that idea,” sophomore Skyler Parks said.

After staying at the Mall for two hours, group left with an idea of what they could do for the rest of their lives.

“Every single person has the ability to grow and change, but it’s really difficult if you don’t have opportunities and exposure,” Bishop said. “Opportunities like the ESSDACK Career Expo, give my students the opportunity to see what they can do in the world.”