Students participate in virtual career fair
Posted on 02/04/2021
Virtual Career Fair(SPS) -- How do teachers overcome the inability to take students on field trips due to the coronavirus pandemic? Like just about everything else, they do it virtually and bring the field trip to the students.

That was the case for Rosemary Hill of Sapulpa Junior High School. She teaches Strategies for Academic Success which focuses on aspects of being successful in high school and beyond. The class is required of 8th-grade students.

On Jan. 28th, Mrs. Hill’s classes participated in the Junior Achievement Career Exploration Fair in which students were able to explore the JA Inspire Virtual website and learn about a vast number of businesses and career opportunities.

“It was open to all schools in the state and this was our first year to participate. Since we couldn’t go on a field trip to Central Tech, I felt this might be a good option,” said Mrs. Hill.

The website is an animated venue complete with a lobby, auditorium, and exhibit halls. The three halls represent three different categories of industries and careers. Once inside, students could click on a particular business and read more about them, view videos, participate in Q&A, and more.

“The career fair was only from 8 until 4, so if they finished their work in other classes, and if their other teachers allowed, they could log back in and continue to watch and learn,” said Mrs. Hill.

To incentivize students to participate and learn about opportunities after high school, Junior Achievement offered prizes to students who collected points along the way. There were nine icons placed in the virtual venue. When a student found one, he could collect points by clicking on it. He could also accumulate points by watching videos, adding items to his virtual backpack, and engaging in a Q&A session.

Students Andrew Adkisson and Gunner Belden accumulated enough points to each win a pair of passes to see a movie at the Admiral Twin Drive-In. Other prizes included gift certificates for Amazon and various restaurants.

“It was a good learning experience and fun at the same time,” said Mrs. Hill.