That time of year for the annual LOSD Career Night & Job Fair has passed and it had many interesting aspects. Career Night was held on April 9th at Lakeridge High School and had strong attendance, with a handful of LOHS students and families showing up to take part in the fair. Colleges such as Portland Community College, the University of Oregon and Oregon State University had pop-ups about the different programs their schools offered. Multiple federal departments based in Oregon were also at the showcase.
Aside from the vendors, there were fun activities and interactive booths for people to take part in while they were there. Career Night Bingo, Clackamas Community College’s VR station, Summit Salon’s tinsel installing station, the Army National Guard’s robot and fruit flies from OSU’s science department were all a big hit amongst the other entertainment.
The usual questionnaire that is given for students to complete in order to earn a CRLE (Career-Related Learning Experience) towards graduation had Career Night attendees fill out a form as they talked to vendors from different careers to learn information about them. This year, LOSD went for a different approach to increase individual interest and engagement. Typically, there are four identical sets of five questions about the careers showcased. This year’s Career Night had three questions instead. They had a more personal look at the connection between the vendors and students and students to themselves. These questions focused on the perspective from the students’ experience with the fair and careers they learned about or might be interested in pursuing.
As always, students can earn one of the two required CRLEs to graduate if they stay for the required time. This year, instead of having to stay for five hours to get this Career-Related Learning Experience, it was reduced to one hour. This doesn’t mean that the event was shorter — it still went on for 2 hours from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., so people were able to talk to any career vendors they were interested in.
Many volunteers from LO came to help out at the Career Night & Job Fair. They helped set up, take down the event and guid attendees to booths, while also participating in Career Night like everyone else by walking around to learn about the different vendors’ jobs. They made this event possible and made it more manageable for the official overseers and vendors. A big thank you to their efforts and to all the people who went to the Career Night & Job Fair!
