JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – About 3,000 students attended the fifth annual CareerQuest TN at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Thursday.
The career exploration event is being held April 27-28 at ETSU’s Mini Dome. Lottie Ryans, the director of workforce and literary directives for the First Tennessee Development District, told News Channel 11 that roughly 80 employers and a multitude of secondary schools attended the event to provide options for students.
“Over the course of two days, we are having a career exploration event for middle and high school students in our region,” Ryans said. “[They’re] learning about careers in advanced manufacturing, construction, health care and I.T.”
Any middle school or high school student may attend the event, including homeschooled students.
“Students have no idea what’s available to them in our region,” Ryans said. “And so this is hands-on experience where they talk to people who do the work, they talk to H.R. people, they talk to post-secondary professors who teach the certifications and the degrees.”
Ryans said CareerQuest TN gives students a chance to discover what is open to them after high school, whether that means going straight into the workforce or attending an institution of some kind.
