THUNDER BAY — The World of Choices event gives students a chance to explore career options.
The event was held on April 16 at Oliver Road Community Centre with about 40 students between Grades 8 to 12 from Ogden Community Public School, Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, Sherbrooke Public School and Hammarskjold High School.
“I have a lot of friends that are having trouble and scared of what they're going to do after high school, so I think this gives them an opportunity to figure out what they may want to pursue later and after high school,” said Drake Mawakeesick, Grade 12 student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School.
Mawakeesick said he found banking, mining and photography very interesting through the booths displayed at World of Choices.
“I do like career fairs like this that show there's way more things to do rather than just what everyone goes for like nursing or lawyer. I think this shows, whatever you're interested in, you could probably find here,” he said.
World of Choices is a one-day event that Junior Achievement Northern and Eastern Ontario holds across the province, and it was the first time back in Thunder Bay since 2019.
Director of programs and operations, Cody McIntyre, said prior to the event, students got to choose from a list of different career opportunities.
“They rank their top choices from one to five, and then we guarantee their top three choices. Today there's about 16 different career opportunities from local businesses representing a variety of things from skilled trades to social services,” McIntyre added.
“The Ministry of Education has recognized and made changes to the curriculum in terms of career coaching. It's important that we get in front of the students, especially Grade 8, when they're making those choices for high school into what stream they want to go into,” he said.
McIntyre said World of Choices is funded by RBC.
“They are big champions of this program across the country,” he said.
Junior Achievement has been around for 105 years, McIntyre said.
“We're a global organization that specializes in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Today you're seeing that that promotion of entrepreneurship, career readiness, and a little bit of financial literacy. We've also been nominated for the fourth year in a row for a Nobel Peace Prize for work with promoting empowerment of youth and underserviced communities,” he said.
