Fort Bliss Public Affairs Specialist David Poe shows a Milam Elementary School third grader how to operate a GoPro camera during the Milam career fair held, Feb. 6, 2020 on East Fort Bliss. (Photo by Michelle L. Gordon, USAG Fort Bliss Pubic Affairs)

Fort Bliss’ Milam Elementary hosts career fair

By Michelle L. Gordon, USAG Fort Bliss Public Affairs

Nearly 400 students from Milam Elementary School explored different occupation options during a career fair setup in their school gymnasium, Feb. 6, 2020 on East Fort Bliss, Texas.

Third- through fifth-grade students walked around to the different career tables asking questions, such as “How many years did you have to go to school?” “How much money do you make?” and “What is your favorite part of your job?”

Their experience at each table was vastly different. At the Homeland Security table, the kids wore a bulletproof vest to feel the weight. The banking and finance table personnel talked about the importance of helping others. The Fort Bliss Dental Activity demonstrated how to appropriately brush teeth, which was appropriate, because the culinary school table gave them freshly-baked cookies. 

At the Fort Bliss Public Affairs table, we gave them a microphone and a video camera, and put them to work making a news story about the fair.

“We wanted to give the students goals and get them ready for the future,” said Milam School Counselor Susan Jamison, who coordinated the event. “It makes them more aware of the different careers they can choose from.”

The career fair was part of college and career week at Milam. In addition to the fair, the week included a variety of activities to get the students thinking about life beyond fifth grade. The upper-grade students researched different colleges and gave presentations to the lower grades; the students made college pennants with art supplies, and all grades dressed as what they want to be when they grow up.

“The career fair was awesome because they told us about a whole bunch of different jobs and what they do,” said a fifth grade student. “It was amazing and so fun.”

Student Pictures

If you give a kid a camera, they'll take some pretty good photos. These pictures were taken by students at the Milam Elementary Career Fair, Feb. 6, 2020.