By Danielle Smith

Leader Staff Writer

When a student begins high school, they enter their final years of adolescence and thoughts of their future start to flow. Recognizing this, Oxford High School sent approximately 400 of its students to a career exploration event that was sure to leave lasting impressions on those that attended.

MiCareerQuest Southeast is the region’s largest career exploration event. The event, on Nov. 8, hosted more

than 11,000 high school students and presented them with 1,000 professionals representing over 200 occupations in four categories: advanced manufacturing, construction, health science and information technology.

“It is a career exploration event unlike any other, designed to spark students’ curiosity and introduce them to many of today’s most in-demand occupations in southeast Michigan and across the state,” said Lisa Butts, K-12 career-focused education coordinator for Oxford Community Schools.

Students from OHS, Oxford Bridges High School, Oxford Virtual Academy and Oxford Schools Early College along with 25 chaperones “representing all levels and positions within the district K-12,” attended the event, at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.

While at MiCareerQuest Southeast, students were able to not only converse

with the professionals who volunteered their time, but were also given hands-on opportunities to get a glimpse of what a career in a particular field would look like. If a student was interested in a career, each booth provided a card with information regarding that profession, such as compensation and education requirements.

“The hands-on nature of this event invited participation,” Butts said. “The exhibitors highlighted their occupations through engaging, interactive demonstrations and activities. Students were able to build, test products, drive simulators, conduct mock surgeries or even explore a new virtual world.”

MiCareerQuest Southeast is one of seven events held throughout Michigan this year. Students in the surrounding areas of Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing. Kalamazoo, Petoskey and Onaway will be able to benefit from this type of career exploration event as well.

“Oxford Community Schools is committed to providing all of our students with career focused opportunities and experiences,” Butts said. “MiCareerQuest allowed us to do that on a much larger scale than we are able to do in individual classrooms.”