The Black Press Extreme Education and Career Fair in Cranbrook saw some heavy visitor traffic as soon as the doors opened to the public at 11 am Thursday morning, Nov. 15.
Forty exhibitors are on hand to showcasing what they have to offer prospective job seekers — and prospective students.
Its predicted that 77 per cent of all future jobs in B.C. will require some post-secondary education or training. So the education component of the Education and Career Fair looms large.
“We like to see a nice diverse group [of prospective students],” said Megan, who represents The Centre for Arts and Technology. “Everyone from right out of high school to what we consider mature students.” The Centre for Arts and Technology is an art and design school with campuses in Kelowna and Surrey.
Also in the house are the Kootenays’ College of the Rockies, Lethbridge College, the Industry Training Authority of BC and the Kootenay Columbia School of Integrative Health Sciences, and other opportunities for education, training or skills upgrading.. The institutions are seeing interest from everyone from high school students to older area residents looking for a career change.
“We’re here as an educational institution offering people a chance to upgrade the skills that they have, or get some new skills for the jobs that they’re looking for,” said Jennifer Henkes, with the College of the Rockies.
“We’re looking for students in high school who are looking ahead to post-secondary, but we also have opportunities for adult learners — people who’ve been out of high school for one, 10, 20 years — who are looking to upgrade their skills. They can come to the College and do that.”
The College of the Rockies has campuses throughout the East Kootenay region, with the main campus in Cranbrook. COTR offers more than 50 programs in both classroom and online settings.
The Black Press Extreme Education and Career Fair runs from 11 am to 4 pm today, Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Ktunaxa Nation Building in Cranbrook.
