 Over 70 volunteer professionals from businesses and organizations across the lakes area gathered at Pequot Lakes High School today for their fourth annual career fair. The Pequot Lakes School District started the career fair four years ago as a way for high school juniors and seniors to explore different career options before they graduate. The career fair featured career avenues for those planning on continuing on to college and also those considering pursuing a career in the trades. As teachers we can talk all day long about what people do in different lines of work but it goes so much further when students have a chance to hear from the people that do it themselves. We believe in Pequot Lakes that students need that opportunity because they're at this point in their life they don't know they shouldn't know but they should be thinking about it asking questions and vetting options. In addition to representatives from various organizations such as Ascension Health, the Pequot Lakes Chamber, Crowan County Sheriff's Office and more the Mid Minnesota Builders Association brought around 30 members to talk with students about careers in the trades. According to school officials the career fair is a way for students to explore their future options and learn what the paths to various careers might look like. Our goal here is to get kids kind of out of their comfort zone and have some real conversations with professionals about careers they may be interested in. The big thing is that they we want them to understand that they may say I want to be a doctor there's lots of different kinds of being a doctor so what are those things what might be a field that they more specifically might be interested in. Over 750 students from six area school districts will be attending a career fair next Friday March 8th in Brainerd at Central Lakes College. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.