Many students asked Dr. Sherry Ridge basic questions during Middle School Career Quest.

With prompts provided ahead of time, students were encouraged to ask professionals what high school classes they should take or what a typical workday is like for the careers represented.

Then one student, only in 8th grade, said she planned to attend MCC in four years and later take over her mother’s business, Ridge said.

“She was asking business questions, what degrees and certificates she should have,” Ridge said. “She already knew some of the courses she would take.”

Ridge was just one of the professionals manning a booth in the career expo event held on Friday in the MCC gymnasium. The school expected 1,400 eighth-grade students to come through the third annual event to learn about what career paths may be open to them.

Now is the time to get students thinking about future careers because they will be asked to take classes in those tracks once they reach high school, said Maria Andrade, MCC’s coordinator of events and outreach for workforce development.

Events like Career Quest “can awaken some interest,” Andrade said. “It makes them a little more aware of what their futures can be.”

In the MCC gymnasium, professionals from around the area were ready to answer students’ questions about what they do – from day-to-day responsibilities to what they enjoy about their professions.

Liz Bundick works for Chicago’s Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. She is based out of MCC as its specialist for learning and partnerships, focusing on STEM jobs.

She and her work partner, Chris Wennmacher, had a setup that allowed students to maneuver small robots on a mini soccer field.

“We got a lot of, ‘How did you get into your career’” questions, Bundick said.

“One in 10 probably had a plan and wanted advice on reaching that plan,” Wennmacher said. “One of them said he really liked math and wanted to know what he could do with that.”

At their schools across McHenry County, the students were given career assessments first. Those short, 80-question quizzes help teachers assess what areas the students may be most interested in as a career.

Andrade’s own daughter recently took the quiz and was surprised to see that it suggested a business, CEO-track.

“She never saw herself doing that,” Andrade said, adding that her daughter had planned to go to college for an art degree. “This opens something else for her,” which could include both the arts and business.

No one is looking to lock students into a career path, either, she said.

“We want the community to know that MCC is trying to help them, at a young age, to be successful and to get to where they want to get,” Andrade said.