Career Forum at Currituck County High School

Where else can you find a nuclear physicist, a minister and former president of Blackwater, a chief strategist with the World Bank, a wedding planner, tech and video professionals, builders and architects, scientists, military personnel, marine biologists and real estate professionals? They were all at Currituck High School for the second annual Career Forum sponsored by the Currituck Chamber of Commerce and the Currituck Wild Goose Rotary Club.

During the forum, all ninth graders were able to meet and ask questions of 27 professionals who took time to out of their busy schedules (one even flew back from Italy the night before where he was working on the salvage of the wreck of the Costa Concordia) to meet with the students and introduce them to a wide range of careers. They discussed how they arrived at their current positions, what education and experience they needed, and a whole host of other topics. The students, who were assigned to eight different groups, rotated through eight different industry-specific classrooms. This allowed them to meet all of the professionals there that day. This program, in its second year, was productive, educational and entertaining for both the students and the adults. Especially exciting is the support the career forum receives from both the faculty and Principal Diane Newbern and from its organizers at the school: CTE Career Development Coordinator Ms. Jane Puryear, and Director of Career-Technical Education & Testing Ms. Monique Wilkins-Combs.