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First ever “EPIC” day in Lethbridge to offer students variety of career choices

Feb 7, 2017 | 10:29 AM

LETHBRIDGE –  450 high school students from across southwestern Alberta will be taking part tomorrow,  in  “EPIC” or “Exploring Possible Industries Careers” day at Exhibition Park in Lethbridge.
 
It’s an interactive fair, designed to give teens a hands-on approach to careers in the health, agriculture and trades and technologies industries.
Career Transitions Executive Director Judy Stolk- Ingram says they’ve held career fairs in the past, but this is the first time the organization is holding such a large-scale event.
 
“Probably about 7 years ago, Career Transitions started a program called ‘YETT,’ Youth Exploring Trades and Technologies. And so we started with this kind of model, rather than a traditional career fair where students can just kind of mill about and take something away, or maybe not. We structured it in such a way where we had timed sessions with small groups of students that would go to 7 or 8 different employers during the course of the workshop, and have that quality time and to be able to learn in depth,”
 
She says most of the exhibitors have always had something interactive, where kids can set up equipment, cut sheet metal, put ends on extension cords etc. That way, they can learn something new while getting some career advice as they begin to make important decisions about their future as well.
 
“So after 5 years of doing YETT, a couple of years ago we added Health Careers Expo. So we were doing two events on the same day, and both equally as popular and equally as impactful. So this year when we added agriculture on our list, we decided that we would make it one event and brand it with one name, and have it with three sectors, rather than having three separate events on one day.”
 
This year there will be nearly 60 exhibitors, including Radiology Associates, Alberta Health Services, Rural Physicians Action Plan, Lethbridge College, KB Heating, Farm Stewardship Centre, Agrium and many others.
 
The event gets underway at 9:30 am, and runs until 2:30 pm.