Hitched up to the career carnival

Ayhan at the Football Federation Victoria stall. 117530 Pictures: STEWART CHAMBERS

By CASEY NEILL

A CARNIVAL complete with popcorn descended on Dandenong High School last week – but it wasn’t all fun and games.
About 1500 students made their way through dozens of information stands at the Careers Fair on 22 May.
“The idea is to help students understand the different options out there,” organiser Jo Gleeson said.
Businesses, tertiary institutions, community and not-for-profit organisations and essential service providers all presented career paths to students in Years nine to 12.
“Some of our teachers have already commented that their students were very involved in the day,” Ms Gleeson said.
“Some specifically called out students who have been disengaged at school and at risk of leaving, but talked to representatives at the fair, found out things that they didn’t know and now have a level of enthusiasm the teachers haven’t seen for a long time.”
Year 11 student Paul, 16, would like to see more events like this one and has his eyes on a career as a lawyer.
“It was good hearing from experienced people instead of searching up on the web,” he said.
“The web doesn’t answer back to your questions.”
Year 11 student Anthony, 16, said he didn’t know what he wanted to do.
“I asked as many questions as possible,” he said.
“I wanted to broaden my horizons and get as much information as I could.”