{"id":22554,"date":"2025-04-23T23:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-middle-school-hosts-annual-career-fair-inspiring-eighth-graders\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:14:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:14:59","slug":"cortez-middle-school-hosts-annual-career-fair-inspiring-eighth-graders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-middle-school-hosts-annual-career-fair-inspiring-eighth-graders\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Middle School hosts annual career fair, inspiring eighth graders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Students
Students had the opportunity to learn about career opportunities from local professionals during a recent eighth grade career fair at the Cortez Middle School. (Lissa Lycan\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Cortez Middle School\u2019s annual career fair, held for three days after state testing, allowed 160 to 200 eighth graders to explore an array of professions, from architecture to firefighting, in an event designed to spark curiosity and ambition.<\/p>\n

The fair, which was organized by eighth grade counselor Robyne Cote, featured 30 careers, with 10 presentations available each day.<\/p>\n

Cote launched the event after noticing a waning motivation in spring. Now, the event helps prepare students for high school and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that as they enter high school, they would have an opportunity to structure their graduation path based on whether they wanted to go to college, to a trade school or military, or straight into the workforce, so knowing what opportunities were out there for employment on all of those levels would be helpful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Each day, students could select four presentations, allowing them to prioritize careers that interested them. Students were provided information about the careers and presentations a week before the careers fair. Mona Makes catered lunch, and small gift bags were provided to presenters.<\/p>\n

Professions ranged from an architect, scientist, real estate agent, plumber, cosmetologist, veterinarian and air medic\/flight EMT. The air medic\/flight EMTs even landed their helicopter on the school\u2019s football field for students to see. Other notable careers included arborist\/landscaper, attorney, preschool teacher, Ute Mountain Ute councilman, pharmacist, firefighter, State Patrol, accountant, mechanic, banker, X-ray technician, restaurant owner, lineman, nurse and author.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents were introduced to a variety of careers, some familiar to them or their families, some new and different. They got a clear picture of the lifestyles that different careers can provide, and the importance of hard work and reliability, no matter your profession,\u201d Lissa Lycan, English Language arts department chair, told The<\/em> Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Students
Students engage with EMT professionals. (Lissa Lycan\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Students could be heard expressing their excitement about the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fun getting to interact with different adults and ask them questions,\u201d one student said. Another appreciated the professionals\u2019 patience, saying, \u201cWhen I asked dumb questions, they weren\u2019t snarky or rude but actually answered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interactive elements, like holding the firefighters\u2019 Jaws of Life or participating in a preschool activity, were highlights. Interactions between students and professionals were effective too, Lycan said. Some students learned about internships, summer jobs and contacts for future opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite thing is watching kids get really interested in something they have never considered before and start to wonder and ask questions,\u201d Cote said. Teachers said they could see \u201clight bulbs start to come on\u201d for students as they explored the variety of careers.<\/p>\n

\"Students
Students could choose four career presentations to attend each day of the career fair. (Lissa Lycan\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Even those who presented expressed their thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always have a good time presenting and appreciate the continued opportunity for us to engage with these young folks,\u201d Nicole Hafner, senior BSA\/compliance specialist for Four Corners Community Bank, said. \u201cThere were even a few students that approached us after presenting to ask more questions and chat a bit which was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lycan also highlighted the broader lessons of the career fair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that students learned that, whether they want to become a scientist or a lawyer, a lineman or an EMT, a plumber or an author, our school PRIDE values of perseverance, respect, integrity, dependability and empathy will be central to their success,\u201d Lycan said.<\/p>\n

The event also strengthens community ties, allowing students and teachers to network.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also love hosting community members in our school where they are able to see and interact with our students and teachers and see all of the good things happening here,\u201d Cote said. \u201cIt is a total win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

is to motivate students to go into high school with a purpose<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,147,155,28,60,216,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-cortez-middle-school","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77761,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22554\/revisions\/77761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22554"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}