Post-Secondary Day/Local Career Showcase leaves high school students pondering futures

Another Post-Secondary Day/Local Career Showcase event hosted at Altona's W.C. Miller Collegiate on Tuesday has students pondering their options for the future. 

Area businesses, industry leaders and post-secondary institutions set up exhibits and made presentations, appealing to students to include them in their considerations. The local career showcase portion of the day was presented by the Altona and District Chamber of Commerce and included businesses like Friesens, Blue Sky Opportunities, Elmer's Manufacturing and Buffalo Creek Mills. Post-secondary schools included CMU, Providence University College, U of M, U of W, Brandon University and Red River Polytechnic. 

Students from Miller and Mennonite Collegiate Institute in Gretna attended. 

Gavin is in grade 11, and he plans to go directly into the workforce after graduation. He explained what he hoped to get out of the day. 

"Learning about what jobs would be good, what are some benefits, how to get in early and kind of build a good, stable income, and be able to move out eventually and you know, just work on getting those life skills down."

He's always wanted to go into law enforcement and took in the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) presentation. "It was definitely eye-opening to the whole life of law enforcement. So, I think that'll be a something I'm going to pursue in the future."

Aiden, Gavin and Kumera

Kumera isn't sure what he wants to do after high school and says the event has offered him a better outlook. 

"I went to the Border Patrol one (presentation), which is kind of cool learning about that. I got a couple pamphlets from Providence University and Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology. (It's) so cool to learn about that stuff."

Aiden wants to get into the media and film industry and spent some time with representatives from the University of Manitoba. 

"I just like working hard on something I made and seeing the finished product and seeing how people react to it," he said, adding he's going to continue working on his craft.

Gavin added, having days like this are great for gaining a general understanding of what's out there. 

"Living in a small town, like in this area, you're not in the middle of it like if you lived in Winnipeg. So out here, you got to have these days. You can go out and kind of learn. It's just good to get that experience."

Both Aiden and Kumera echoed Gavin's feelings. 

As for what's next, the trio agree they will take the information they've learned from the day, browse the pamphlets and maybe even take advantage of some of the tours offered at certain schools. 

~With files from Chris Sumner~

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