Fairs scheduled

for February include Whitewater Middle, Feb. 21 from 8:30-10:15 a.m.;

J.C. Booth Middle, Feb. 28 from 8:30-10:30 a.m.; and Rising Starr Middle,

Feb. 28 from 8:30-10:30 a.m.

Unlike a job

fair, which is designed to showcase positions for which a person can immediately

be hired, career fairs offer exploratory opportunities for students to

learn as much as possible about a variety of career fields. With so many

career options available in today's job marketplace, students often discover

an area of interest that they had never considered.

The school's

guidance department is responsible for coordinating career fairs. Counselors

work hard to include as many different career fields as possible that

might be of interest to the school's student population. In order to ensure

that students are getting valuable information from the fair, they are

required to survey several presenters in their area of interest. General

survey questions often include salary range, education needed, opportunities

for advancement and effect of economy on the career field.

Although middle

school students are several years away from graduation, the fairs are

important at this level because they spark the thinking process and help

students begin preparing for the appropriate course of study when they

enter high school, according to Janice McLeroy, counselor at Rising Starr

Middle School.

"Students

at this age are still so influenced by their parents, relatives, friends

and TV figures that they don't realize all of the career options that

are available," said McLeroy. "We want our students to see so

much more that is out there, and developmentally this is the time to strike."

Although many

students plan for careers that require a college education, McLeroy points

out that technical careers are going to be the fastest growing field for

the next 25 years. The old school of thought that vocational schools were

for those students who could not make the cut for college is slowly waning

as technical colleges are preparing students for the future. McLeroy says

that Rising Starr's career fair for eighth-graders will help them see

the options in the technical fields and the pathways to get there.

"When

a ninth-grader begins high school on the track that he or she chose through

the four-year planning meeting, there is very little room for change during

that four-year period," said McLeroy. "Those that fail to plan,

plan to fail."

While career

fairs help expose students to careers they might not know about, parents

are still the most influential people in their children's lives says McLeroy

and she encourages parents to get involved in their children's career

planning.

There are many

websites and books that are user-friendly and easy reading. McLeroy suggests

that an easy first start on the Internet would be to visit the Georgia

Career Information Center at www.gcic.edu. This Web site allows users

to explore more than 450 career clusters with specific career profiles

and jobs under those clusters. Users can also take their findings and

explore college/technical requirements for those job areas.