BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — More than 1,400 eighth graders piled into the Airport Hilton on Wednesday to take a glimpse into their futures.
The Eighth Grade County-Wide Career Fair hosted students from Maryville Junior High School, Alcoa Middle School, Apostolic Christian Academy, Samuel Everett School of Innovation, Heritage Middle School, Carpenters Middle School, the Eagleton College and Career Academy and Union Grove Middle School.
Employers like DENSO, Blackberry Farm, UT Federal Credit Union and Richardson Construction, along with the Alcoa police and fire departments, set up booths at the events.
Pellissippi State Community College showed off its culinary education program by showing kids how to ice cupcakes and Blackberry Farm gave teens the chance to make pasta. Alcoa Middle School student Willie Tymon said she's interested in the culinary program at Pellissippi State, and in working for Blackberry Farms.
She said students should make sure to explore as many programs as they can before deciding on a single career path.
"Explore a lot of the programs," she said. "Don't stick to one category."
Chester Richardson, of Richardson Construction, said the job fair gives teens an idea of the jobs available in Blount County and it lets them think outside the box when it comes to careers. He said his company hires construction workers, but it also hires designers and accountants.
"It's a great opportunity to at least start thinking about stuff that maybe they have not really thought about before," Richardson said. "So it really opens up their minds, and creates some new avenues where they go, 'Oh, that looks like something I could enjoy doing.'"