ISU Bengal

Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: News

For the seventh year in a row, representatives from community businesses, ISU's College of Technology, and School District 25 collaborated to bring the Tech Expo to the Holt Arena on Thursday, April 3. The Expo shows students the variety of opportunities that lie in the College of Technology, and how to take advantage of them.

The Expo is open to the community, but high schools around Southeastern Idaho were specifically invited to take part.

"The purpose of the Tech Expo is to show students a connection between what they can be doing in high school, what they can be doing at the university, and what they can get with their degree," said Angela Askey, Community Relations Specialist for the College of Technology.

All students in the seventh and tenth grades in School District 25 took a field trip to the Expo on Thursday. School counselors and advisors let the students know which classes are important to get into various tech programs at ISU.

"They're giving us a better idea what we want to do now instead of later," said Alysha Smith, a sophomore at Pocatello High School. "They have career booths and ideas on careers and technology. They have people from classes in high school like robotics, and they have organizations that help students get into college."

Mark Bower, a Recruiter for Wyoming Machinery Company, said companies are there to show students that there are good careers opportunities with technology degrees.

"We can show people you don't have to be a doctor or a nurse-you can be a diesel tech," Bower said.

He said the companies also benefit from the Expo because it gives them the opportunity to talk to College of Technology students one-on-one.

"The value of it is all of the students are here in the booths," Bower said. "I've given out five or six applications today to college students working at the Expo."

Vanessa Mosely, a senior majoring in cosmetology, said that working at the expo is valuable to her and others in her department because it helps them find clients and gives them an opportunity to tell students about things few realize their profession.

"We inform students what we learn," Mosley said. "I think a lot of people are surprised to know how much we actually have to learn to be a cosmetologist."

"It helps us get involved with the general public, which is important because we're going to be working in the general public," said Amy Larsen, another senior majoring in cosmetology.

This year the Expo was also combined with the Greater Pocatello Chamber of Commerce's weekly "Business After Hours" event, which helps local business people contact each other.

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