Inaugural Prospect health career fair draws hundreds of students
Prospect High School recently held a health career fair that gave hundreds of students the opportunity to meet with health care professionals and explore careers.
The inaugural event, organized by four health educators at Prospect, brought together more than 30 professionals in the field, ranging from acupuncturists to chiropractors to nurses to athletic trainers to pharmacists to personal trainers and nutritionists, among others.
Representatives from area health-related organizations and businesses and various Harper College health programs spoke to students at the event about their education and careers, as did police officers and firefighters from the villages of Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights.
"We were very happy with how it went," said Prospect health teacher Michele Burnett. "The kids were engaged and really participated in the interactive demonstrations the exhibitors had."
Planning for the Dec. 4 event began in October after Burnett, Krystina Mackowiak, Aaron Marnstein and Cristen Sprenger, also health teachers at Prospect, discussed creating a hands-on career fair to help expose students to various health professions.
Industry professionals who attended the fair answered questions about the education and training needed for particular jobs and also created hands-on demonstrations, allowing students to participate in activities.
About 400 Prospect students visited the fair, which was timed to correspond with course registration for the 2019-2020 school year and expose students to the school's Health Science Career Pathway program.
"We really liked seeing the students enjoy the demonstrations and get involved. The vendors did a great job of being interactive," Burnett said.
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