BY TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR

Merrill High School (MHS) held their 2023 Bluejay Career/Job Fair on Thursday, April 6, 2023, at MHS.
Beyond just a simple job fair where employers set up booths and actively recruit applicants for job openings, inviting students or job seekers to complete applications for employment, the MHS Career Fair incorporated demonstrations, a panel of local representatives to present information and answer questions, and information about a wide variety of career paths, including educational opportunities and military service, as well. The Career Fair was designed to help students identify and prepare for their chosen career path, and promote college readiness if that is in their plans for the future.

MHS students helped to host and market the Career Fair
Students in the marketing class worked with Ms. Olivia J. Dachel, Business & Computer Science teacher, and Karen Akey, Career Readiness Coach, to help market and promote the event.
Students created and posted flyers for the event, partnered with the Merrill Area Chamber of Commerce to send mailers to the 200 Chamber members, created videos to market the Career Fair to students, wrote and recorded public service announcements (PSA’s) with Bluejay 96.3 radio station in Merrill (the station donated airtime for the PSA’s for the event), did live interviews with a discussion panel on the Our Town radio show, created social media posts to publicize the event, and helped actually host and set up the event. This active involvement in the process helped students understand all the elements required to create, host, and run an event.

A successful and comprehensive event
The event had approximately 600 students attending in three rotating groups of 200 students that rotated between the Job Fair, Demonstrations, and Career Panel, beginning at 8:35 a.m. The Youth Apprenticeship (YA) Program provided water and light refreshments.
Initially the event started with about 14 interested employers and ended up with 57 employers attending the Job Fair, Akey said. Twenty careers were demonstrated, providing students with hands-on experience. And six employers shared advice to students about “What Our Future Employees Need to Know” in the Career Panel discussion.