NASELLE — More than 200 students from the Naselle-Grays River Valley School District and 28 from the Wahkiakum School District were given the opportunity to learn about a myriad of different career opportunities during the Comet Career Fair held in Naselle’s Lyle Patterson Gymnasium on March 21.

According to Justin Laine, NGRVSD Counselor and one of the organizers of the fair, “At least 70 different college, career, and technical representatives as well as members of the U.S. Army and Navy participated in the 2nd Comet Career Fair. At least that many different career areas were represented as the representatives from Grays Harbor College, Clatsop Community College, the MERTS Center, the Job Corps, the Digipen Institute of Technology, and the International Air and Hospitality Academy shared information about many different careers.”

Career fair participants came from a wide range of backgrounds with many of them being Naselle graduates who returned to their alma mater to share their life and career experiences. Many others were parents, community members, school board members, human service professionals, and officials from Wahkiakum and Pacific Counties, the Long Beach Peninsula, and the North Oregon Coast. Career fair participants traveled from as far away as the Vancouver-Portland area, Redmond, Auburn and all over Southwest Washington and Northern Oregon.

“The career was a huge success as students in grades 3-12 as well as students from the Wahkiakum School District, over 230 students in all, enthusiastically engaged with the career fair participants,” Laine said. “They asked the participants questions about common work activities, education and training, pay and benefits, what they like best and least about their careers, and what advice they would give students as they continue through middle and high school and prepare for their futures.

“What made this career fair so successful was the very selfless and generous investment of time and energy by the career fair participants for the sake of our students and our school. The career fair participants went above and beyond the call of duty. Many of them brought poster boards and digital displays, photo displays, pamphlets and brochures, and many “tools of the trade.” One of the instructors from the Job Corps brought a cold-water immersion suit (survival suit) and had students attempt to put it on in less than a minute.

“We know that some participants came straight off work shifts to participate in the fair and that many others made professional sacrifices and childcare arrangements to participate. I would just like to share how heart- warming it is to see so many people from within and outside of our community give so generously and selflessly to our students. This was a very spirited community event.”

The event was sponsored by Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, known by the acronym GEAR UP. GEAR UP is a competitive grant program of the U.S. Department of Education with the goal to increase the number of students prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education by providing States and local community-education partnerships.

“It was a total team effort,” Laine said. “Rachel Suomela put a ton of time into coordination, recruitment, and set up. Edie Glenn made all of the food arrangements, set up, and also helped recruit participants. Greg Nelson created the refrigerator magnets and personalized key fobs along with a couple of his career and technical education students. Herlet Watson helped with planning, recruitment, and set up. I can’t stress how much it helped to have the support of Superintendent Lisa Nelson and Principal Quinn Donlon for this event. Pastor Kyle Higginbotham provided tables from the Naselle Assembly of God Church for the participants to use. Thanks go out to Ocean Spray and Subway from Long Beach who donated much of the food and beverages.”

The plan is to have a Career Fair every other year with the next one taking place during the 2019-20 school year. Anyone interested in participating and sharing information on career opportunities is asked to contact Justin Laine at the Naselle-Grays River Valley School District at 360-484-7121.