With ‘pathway to future career’ in mind, Henrico Schools to host Life-Ready Expo Dec. 8

Henrico Schools’ Department of Workforce and Career Development will host its virtual Life-Ready Expo: Natural Resources and Agriculture event, the second in a seven-part series, via Microsoft Teams from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 8.

The expo is designed to connect students in grades 7-12 and their families with business administrators to learn about their specialized field and build relationships.

“If there is a pathway to a future career, it basically has its roots in the CTE world,” Mac Beaton, CTE director of department of workforce and career development, said. “I believe that every student should graduate high school enrolled, enlisted and/or employed, so our job is to make sure our students have the exposure and opportunity to learn what those career pathways are and how to be best prepared to move forward in that.”

The CTE’s first-ever expo event was in October 2019 and took place in person. Beaton said the event was such a success that the CTE officials didn’t want to let the pandemic get in the way of hosting another, so they divided the previously singular event into a seven-part virtual series, featuring: Energy, Natural Resources and Agriculture, Human Services, Business Management and Technology, Health Services, Industrial and Engineering Technology, and Arts and Communications.

“While there’s a lot of negatives with COVID, especially in the CTE world, we can’t afford to take the year off in helping students think about their future,” Beaton said. “In some respects, [virtual] has some very good pluses about it. Walking into a room with 156 tables that has every business from a cosmetologist to an engineer, and they’re all mixed together, you’ve got to go table to table to find out the ones you’re really interested in. So, a positive is that it’s really focused. Oh, you’re interested in energy? Boom, that’s the one you need to go to.”

The first virtual expo series event, which focused on energy careers, was held Nov. 17. The event was set up in breakout rooms, with 15-minute rotations during which students and parents were able to speak with different business administrators. The structure of the natural resources and agricultural event will be more flexible, with students and parents having the opportunity to move through the different breakout rooms at their own timing.

Discussing his hope for Tuesday’s event, Beaton said, “I want young people to find what they’re good at, what they enjoy doing and what someone will pay them to do and make a good wage doing it. And as a CTE director, I want them to sign up and take our classes that are preparing them for those opportunities.”

According to Beaton, the CTE is expecting about 20 businesses to attend. One of the business administrators signed up is Bruce Clay, Oak Valley Landscape & Hardscape’s director of design, sales and marketing. Clay was invited to last year’s Life-Ready Expo but wasn’t able to attend because of a time conflict.

“What’s happening in the landscape design and build industry and hardscape industry is there’s a deficit of candidates coming into the field, so I’m thinking maybe if I spur some interest in some high school kids, they might give it a shot,” Clay said. “Hopefully I can make them inquisitive as to what we do and how we do it, and may ultimately employ some of them, bring them on board and train them in a skill.”