(Spencer)– The Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation, in cooperation with area schools, community colleges, businesses and manufacturers, will put on a special event this coming spring to encourage young people to stay in the region after graduating high school. Trevor Smith, Senior Vice President of Economic Development, says the “Build My Future” event is being modeled after a similar one in Des Moines, which actively recruited young people to move out of northwest Iowa…
“We wanted to create an opportunity, bring that up here to northwest Iowa, so that way those students can get exposed to our businesses and our opportunities here in northwest Iowa so that way there is that direct school to workforce partnership. In speaking with our schools an actual interesting statistic when you speak with all of them, anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of our high school seniors do not go to college, they go directly into the workforce. And so when you think about that, we need to do a better job of showcasing those opportunities, exposing them to all the different trades and opportunities.”
Smith says it will be nothing at all like a career fair…
“The Build My Future event is going to be held April 23rd at the Clay County Regional Events Center. We’re going to be bringing in a thousand students from across our region with over 50 plus vendors, different companies, coming. You have to do a hands-on learning event. It’s not a career fair where you show up and talk to somebody. You get actually do the jobs that are available around here from working as an airplane mechanic, to framing, to all those different things. Anything that doesn’t require a four year degree is an opportunity that we want to showcase that you can go and just get a quick, maybe, a training certificate, a two year degree and you can get right into the workforce and start work. So it’s going to be an unbelievable opportunity and we’re in the process right now of recruiting all those different vendors but the schools are all on board. They’re really excited there’s an opportunity here in northwest Iowa to help retain our local talent here and show those opportunities because they need to do it with their hands. They can’t just get told about these opportunities.”
In addition to the hands-on activities, Smith says they’ll also have some high tech simulators at the event.
