Marco Palma of Pacific County Fire District No. 1 talks with IHS sophomore Landen Walls at the high school's career fair on Feb. 28.

ILWACO — Oh, the places they could go.

As it turns out, there are plenty of well-paying jobs or valuable training and educational opportunities on or within a stone’s throw of the peninsula that local students could consider after graduation — many of which do not require a four-year college degree.

About two dozen local and regional businesses and organizations descended upon Ilwaco High School on Feb. 28 for the school’s Skilled Trades and Career Fair. The event, according to IHS College and Career Readiness Advisor Amy Hitchcock, was intended to inspire students to consider opportunities both during and after high school that can lead to meaningful, successful careers.

“We have many students who already know that they’d like to pursue a career in the skilled

trades, health care, hospitality, criminal justice, and other fields, but who may not know the

best path to get there,” said Hitchcock. “We also have many students who don’t know what they want to do yet — but they know that they don’t necessarily want to incur the expense of earning a four-year college degree.”

Students from each of the four grade levels at IHS filtered into the school’s gymnasium throughout the morning and early afternoon, visiting the tables of attending businesses and organizations. After lunch, several attendees visited classrooms to give presentations or participate in panels about the opportunities available to students post-high school.

Businesses on hand included the likes of Taft Plumbing, Adrift Hospitality, Bank of the Pacific, Ford Electric and Lum’s Auto Center, while Oshkosh AeroTech in Warrenton gave a classroom presentation. Public organizations that participated included Pacific County Fire District No. 1, Ocean Beach Hospital, Pacific PUD, Pacific County Sheriff’s Office and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Area 1 Inside Electrical JATC, a registered apprenticeship program based in Portland that educates electrical apprentices, contractors and journey level workers, had a table set up, while several community colleges were also in attendance, including Clatsop Community College, Grays Harbor College, Lower Columbia College and Clark College. The Northwest College School of Beauty gave a virtual classroom presentation.

If there’s one thing that Hitchcock hopes students take away from the career fair, it’s that they’ve opened their minds and are more aware of promising opportunities that do not require a four-year degree.

“There’s been a big push in the last 20 years or so that college is the thing you should do, but there’s a lot of other options that are less expensive and result in really viable careers that make you a lot of money and are in demand on the peninsula,” said Hitchcock.

Increasing awareness

For many of the businesses, schools and organizations on hand, the goal for the day was simple: make these students aware that they exist.

That was precisely the intent for a representative from Lower Columbia College, located in Longview, especially for underclassmen. “Obviously with seniors we want them to know we have the options for them, but for freshmen and sophomores we just want to let them know that we exist and what some of the major general programs we have for them are.”

Running Start was also a focus for the colleges in attendance. The program that is growing in popularity allows high school juniors and seniors to take college courses in person or online at community and technical colleges, earning them both high school and college credits that can help them finish their post-high school education up to two years ahead of schedule.

For Anna Taft, of Taft Plumbing, promoting the trades and the opportunities that exist locally is important. “I think our district does a pretty good job of showing that the trades are just as important as college, but I don’t think [it’s done as well] statewide or nationwide,” said Taft.

As a skilled trade, Taft said the robustness of the industry’s workforce is an area of concern. It takes years of training to become a plumber, and Taft is focused on getting students and younger adults who are interested in the career into the programs and training necessary as early as possible — including her son, Liam Taft, an IHS student who will be competing in the state SkillsUSA plumbing competition in late March.

One of the most eye-catching parts of the career fair were students donning virtual reality (VR) headsets supplied by the Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy, which was founded in 2004 and with Centralia College serving as the center’s home campus.

Invited to attend the career fair by Pacific PUD, the clean energy center is one of 12 centers throughout the state that is supported by the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges, with others covering industries like aerospace and advanced manufacturing, agriculture and natural resources, construction, and marine manufacturing and technology.

When wearing the headsets, students were able to try out different careers in the green energy field, such as a power technician, welder or even working in a microchip lab. It served as a sort of pre-job shadow for students — a graduation requirement for seniors — to see if anything sticks out or interests them, said PUD commissioner Debbie Oakes, noting one senior just completed a two-day job shadow as a lineman with the PUD.

With tourism playing a critical role in the local economy, Adrift Hospitality — which operates the Adrift Hotel, Pickled Fish, Shelburne Hotel, Adrift Distillers and several other businesses on the peninsula — was touting its Young Adults Program for workers aged 14-22 as a way to appeal to young workers. For every hour worked at the company between May 15 and Sept. 15, $0.50 is set aside to be used toward ongoing or future education, with an additional $0.50 for each year the worker returns (up to a maximum of $3 an hour).

Positions for younger workers at Adrift Hospitality can range from housekeepers, hosts, prep cooks, dishwashers, bussers or guest services agents, while internships are also available.

“It goes toward your future education [for high schoolers], whether it’s applying for colleges, paying for textbooks, all that fun stuff,” said an Adrift Hospitality representative. “What’s nice about the Adrift is you come as you are, you stay as you are, and you also progress further into the company.”