Career exploration for eighth graders Oct. 20

DIXON – Regional Office of Education 47 in conjunction with Sauk Valley Community College has announced the second annual Pathway Playground, a career exploration event for area eighth grade students, will be from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Oct. 20, at SVCC.

Through career exploration, the Pathway Playground works to build a pipeline of future employees by demonstrating to local students the career opportunities in their own backyard. Area businesses are recruited from a wide variety of careers and asked to share a hands-on activity with students as they explore the careers at the event. Last year, almost 50 businesses shared the career opportunities they had to offer with more than 1,100 area eighth grade students.

“I thought the Pathway Playground was the perfect balance of fun and information provided to help our next-generation workforce in deciding their future,” said 2022 Pathway Playground participant Jake Munz of United Steelworkers Local 63.

The goal this year is to double the number of businesses to provide youths with more opportunities for exploration. Businesses or community agencies interested in participating in the Pathway Playground this year can contact Chanda McDonnell at cmcdonnell@roe47.org or Heather Waninger at hwaninger@roe47.org before Aug. 31.