Students flowed through the Career Inspire catalyst Thursday and Friday last week, soaking in their potential with each step and innovation. Cedar Valley professionals were equally enthusiastic, beaming with pride for their industries, personal passions, and love of sharing their craft with the next generation. This inaugural Career Inspire event enabled the Waterloo community to come full circle, sharing information across generational lines while expanding the foreseen career horizons for middle and high school students.
“It’s a moment for me,” said Amy Hunzlman, experiential learning coordinator. “There has been such a rapport with these eighth and ninth grade students with the business sector. It’s been pretty special these past couple days seeing how students are connecting with careers, finding their ahas and interests, and endless possibilities.”
Upon entry, each class of students was assigned one of six designated industry-specific rooms for a twenty minute exploration period. After each elapsed session, students would rotate to the next, absorbing the potential careers for applied science (math, engineering, and mathematics), agriculture and natural resources, transportation/logistics/architecture/construction, health sciences, human services, arts/communications/information solutions, and business/finance/marketing/management.
One unique component of the event is the separation between the displaying companies and their featured experiences. While John Deere showcased their $80,000 3-D modeling equipment, students only saw Career Inspire volunteers instead of the company’s iconic green and yellow branding. This intentional detachment helped participants to focus conversations on the technology itself and the many career opportunities available to students.
“We are honored to be a part of this experience for students. We have been a long time partner with not only Waterloo Schools, but Junior Achievement,” said Mindy Schmidt, Community Relations Manager at John Deere. “This is just one wonderful opportunity to be able to have our students just kind of dip their toes into career exploration to say maybe there’s an interest and it can build on the plans that Waterloo Schools is doing.”
According to the Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa (JA-EI) team, the event takes roughly a year to plan, with designated committees responsible for each industry sector. 2022 marks the first year for the event, and both Waterloo Schools and JA-EI are eager to get planning underway for years to come.
“The planning team really thought about what are those core businesses within the Cedar Valley that we can lean into that would make sense in the six pathways that align from the governor’s perspective of education – and tying that in,” said Schmidt.
Many education officials celebrated the launch of this Waterloo centric event, including Dr. Ann Lebo, Iowa’s Director of Education.
“We have so many opportunities within our own communities,” said Lebo. “We need to sell who we are. We need to engage our schools and communities together, so we can support new businesses, and let kids know there’s real opportunities for them right here.”
The Career Inspire event was hosted by JA-EI in collaboration with Waterloo Schools. In total over 1,500 students attended the event from Waterloo middle and high schools. Cary Weiland, Expo Alternative Learning Center principal, believes that this event will have an impact on his students for years to come.
“Our students were able to experience careers that in most cases they weren’t even thinking about,” said Weiland. “I would one hundred percent recommend this opportunity. I wish I had this type of experience when I was their age.”
According to Dr. Jared Smith, Superintendent at Waterloo Community School District, the Career Inspire event is one of many career-focused experiences across students k-12 curriculum with Waterloo Schools.
“Our career development initiatives are a top priority for Waterloo Schools,” said Smith. “And Career Inspire has been a powerful and exciting opportunity for our students to take another big step to discover where their passions meet professions.”
