While the last official career fair for the year ended in February, specialized career fairs tailored to certain professions are still happening. This career fair is aimed toward education majors. The event was held Mar. 23 at the Ramsey Center and was hosted by the Center for Career and Professional Development.
WCU Alumni, Keith Buff, returned to WCU not as a student but as the track and field coach for Led High School in Thomasville, North Carolina. He earned double undergraduate degree in business and science education as well as master’s degree in K-12 administration (all degrees are from WCU).
“We were here in the last education career fair more than two years ago and, in my opinion, WCU has slightly less turnout this time. And it’s not just the students; organizations and colleges used to line every row in this building almost shoulder to shoulder. However, I still know a lot of the organizations that attended and the internship opportunities offered here still don’t disappoint,” Buff said. This opinion was not shared with the other guests at fair.
The CCPD website states that 70 employers registered for the event and by estimate, the majority of them were different schools, colleges and summer camps present at the fair looking for their future teachers and interns. Most of these organizations were based in North Carolina with almost no outside organizations present. CCPD in an email said that over 124 students attended the fair.
Nathan Borchelt, professor at the College of Arts and Sciences Mathematics and Computer Science at WCU, visited several tables before making a comment to the Western Carolina Journalist.
“Even though I just got here, the turnout is still more than I thought there’d be. This is a great opportunity for freshmen to get real, in-person experience in the job market that they can’t really get online,” Borchelt said. Borchelt also commented on how he saw several of his students at the fair taking advantage of the CCPD’s free headshot booth for students.
WCU student Zech Hoppes visited the fair out of interest for education-based internships near the campus in Jackson County.
“Everybody was pretty nice and outgoing. There was a good turnout too, especially compared to the more generalized career fair that happened in February,” Hoppes said.
This was the last career fair for this academic year.
