Destiny Weischedel, a senior at Stewardson-Strasburg High School, wants a career involving virtual reality. Her friend, Koda Burry, wants to design and develop video games.
After visiting all the booths at this year’s Trades, Skills & Manufacturing Day on Oct. 17, the students were most interested in the EIU School of Technology booth.
“He really gives a lot of information about it, and he has all kinds of different options,” said Weischedel. “I want to design and manufacture virtual reality and the worlds that you can go into when you do that.”
From eight different high schools, 198 students attended this year’s Trades, Skills & Manufacturing Day. Students could choose to tour two different companies from a total of 13, including the Krusteaz Company and Probst Auto Body.
There were 18 booths, such as Eastern Illinois University School of Technology and The Equity, to teach students about different career paths they could consider.
“Everybody seems to be so excited to be here. They’re asking a lot of great questions. They have some really good insights into what they want to do when they get out of high school, and they’re just so excited to kind of move on with their careers,” said assistant chair and EIU instructor Thomas MacMullen.
MacMullen discovered his love for teaching during his time as an adjunct professor.
“I am interested in my students’ success … I like seeing them from the time they join up at the university to the time they graduate. When they graduate, I am right there waiting for them to shake their hands, take a selfie with them,” said MacMullen. “This is just another step in that process. I want to get them into a program that will help them fulfill their dreams.”
Jerry Tkachuk, a co-chair of the Manufacturing Day Committee, said students from surrounding high schools attended the event: Aspire, New Approach, St. Anthony, Altamont, Effingham, Dieterich, Teutopolis, Beecher City, Newton and Stewardson-Strasburg.
“We are looking at considering moving this down to lower grades … We’re thinking maybe eighth grade,” said Tkachuk.
James Hatfill, a junior, is more interested in hands on work, like construction.
“I don’t want to be in the building,” said Hatfill. He attended the event last year and loved seeing all the different opportunities.
One of the booths at the event was the Effingham County Career Academy, which provides training and classes in agriculture, information technology, manufacturing, transportation and more.
“We also have an explore class where students, high school juniors and seniors, go to the first part of the class [to get] skills like interviews and writing resumes,” said their marketing committee co-chair, Jennifer Hinterscher. “Then the second part of the class is going to different businesses within the community to learn how they approach day-to-day and their roles within the region.”
She also mentioned how the academy offers classes for free to help accelerate careers.
The Krusteaz booth attracted lots of attention with their free samples of their brownies and muffins. Erica Runde, Krusteaz’ human resources generalist, said people don’t need a college degree to work there.
Her favorite part was “trying to educate students on different manufacturers here in Effingham, so they know to come back here when they get schooling or when they get out of school to promote their careers with Krusteaz.”
Laura Sullivan, Effingham Unit 40 CTE Programs & Pathways Coordinator, helped organize the event. She helps students in the area graduate with a plan and a purpose.
“It’s really interesting to hear today about how some of our manufacturers, while they’re separate organizations, they are still very connected,” said Sullivan.