The career and technical education (CTE) fair at Four Corners Upper School welcomed professionals from all different fields of expertise to inform and inspire the next generation of working minds with the help of the National Technical Honor Society.
On Feb. 6th, around the cafeteria, professionals explained their careers and answered questions from students. People from all different fields, such as business owners, veterinarians, and tax managers attended.
One of the professionals at the fair was Photographer Randy Remy. Remy faced financial challenges when starting to pursue his dream but later that dream grew into his own business.
“I’ve always loved photography, it was something I’ve wanted to pursue for a while, but at the time I didn’t have the money to purchase a camera, they are very expensive. Once I accomplished that dream years later, starting last year, I purchased a camera and I was pretty much having fun with it, and from there people started seeing me take shots, and started requesting to have their photos taken, and from there I ended up turning this whole photography thing into my own business,” Remy said.
Senior Jarrett Bell stepped into the role of entrepreneur and launched his apparel company Splash Zone while being a full-time student at FCUS.
“I have always had something pushing me, something driving me, I have always had an interest and talent for art, so I am an artist, and I have been drawing as long as I can remember. I always love to create things and illustrate things, and I wanted to take things a step further. I love clothes as well, so it was a natural progression for me, and I knew that I could balance my school life and my business life as I am working on projects,” Bell said.
Featuring the reality of working in the finance industry, Lee Ann Posabad’s table at the fair was filled with her expertise as a trust advisor.
“I work in banking, my actual role right now is trusting advisor, so I work with accounts at the bank who are managed investment accounts and I am the one who does all the administrating behind the scenes,”Posabad said.
The root purpose of a CTE fair is to open minds to the wide-ranging paths one can take in life by meeting with professionals to help you find your calling. Tables handed out samples and flyers to connect and excite students about different career paths.
“In the future I am thinking about being a nurse, and in the far future hopefully I can shift over and become a doctor. I attended the CTE fair because I was hoping that maybe I’d find someone in the same career field that I am interested in. Even though I did not, it was still fine because I learned new things about different careers that I had not been previously familiar with,” senior Clara Made said.
At the event, students were given slips of paper to be stamped which would later be entered into a raffle, Made was one of the chosen winners of the raffle.
“To enter the raffle, you had to pay $5 and in turn they give you a card and every table had a stamp, so you would have to go to each table and after the entire conversation about the different careers, they would give you a stamp. Once you reach all the tables, you fold your paper and turn it in, and later the winners are drawn. I won and they gave me this ticket to go to a monster truck event,” Made said.
Everyone has their own reasons for pursuing their ambitions, whether it be for self-fulfillment, helping others, or just for the fun of it.
“What I love most about my career is the reward after I produce my pictures and get them out to the families and clients. Yes, photography can be a lot of work, captioning the photos is one thing, but editing photos is another, and can get really tedious at times, but once you finalize everything once you deliver your work to the individuals and they see it and they respond with ‘I love it!’ or ‘Thank you!’, that makes it all the more worth it,” Remy said.
This fair was an opportunity to show students how important it is to make sure you pursue a career you enjoy, and not just work for the paycheck or success.
“I would say you need to make sure that whatever career field you’re going into, you need to do your research, know you’re willing to put in the work, and most of all you need to enjoy it,” Bell said.
