The Leininger family wasn’t sure what they were getting into when they signed themselves up for Geauga Growth Partnership’s “Ignite Your Career” event designed to be a conduit for families and Geauga businesses to connect with each other. The event was held on Monday, March 6th at Kent State University Geauga campus.
Geauga Growth Partnership (GGP) promoted “Ignite Your Career: Pathways to Success for students in grades 7 – 12 with their parents” as more than a symposium, more than a job fair. This is a pretty broad focus, but judging from the feedback the goals were met.
Recognizing they were inviting families to attend during the dinner hour, GGP started the evening off with a dinner prepared and served by students in the Auburn Career Center Culinary Arts program. During the first hour of the evening, a series of guest speakers spoke about the broad diversity of career opportunities in today’s market – from manufacturing to healthcare to trades.
Mr. John Steigerwald, president of Bechem Lubrication Technology and GGP vice chair, demonstrated his passion for manufacturing and how pivotal is it to the overall health and economy of the country. He stressed more than once that “manufacturing matters!” He also wanted students to know that manufacturing does not look like it did a generation ago.
“When I had my first job in a manufacturing facility,” said Mr. Steigerwald as he showed a photograph of a modern manufacturing floor. “You couldn’t eat off the floor like you could in facilities today.”
Danialle Lynce, human resources manager for University Hospitals, shed light on the diversity of careers available in the medical field. “You don’t need to be a doctor or nurse to have a rewarding career.” She pointed out that in health care there are also jobs in food services, law enforcement, accounting and many other areas.
Craig Berman, CEO of Geauga Mechanical in Chardon, was happy to talk about jobs in the trades. Mr. Bill Mahoney, managing director for ASM International spoke of careers in materials science. A reoccurring theme throughout the evening was how many businesses today are offering to pay tuition for employees who wish to advance their educations.
After the guest speakers, families then had the opportunity to move around the building to interact one-on-one with representatives from 17 different companies. The Leiningers (Neil, Kimm and their two daughters) were among the 170 attendees who visited the classrooms of Kent State Geauga to speak with businesses.
“This really did spark something in the girls and we had an awesome conversation about their futures,” said Kimm Leininger. “This event provided us with an opportunity to begin the discussions and to explore our kids’ interests related to the presentations we heard that evening. The girls walked away with a lot of things to think about and quite frankly, so did Neil and I.”
GGP’s Ignite Your Career: Pathways to Success for Students was an evening packed with information to help families guide their kids’ career paths. It is one more event in GGP’s robust Youth Workforce Development program, created to support the goal to “prepare tomorrow’s workforce today.” Other Youth offerings GGP has developed in collaboration with businesses and educators are the 8th Grade Career Awareness events, High School Career Readiness trainings and the High School Internship program.
“We are so pleased by the public response to Ignite Your Career,” says GGP President Tracy Jemison. “Our goals are to match Geauga businesses to their prospective workforce. And we want our Geauga County students to have access to every resource possible that will help them find their career path.
Ignite Your Career is one tool in GGP’s toolbox to accomplish that.” Geauga Growth Partnership is a 501(c)(3) business-led organization established in 2010 as a resource for Geauga County businesses and organizations. One of its primary focus areas is to provide workforce educational opportunities for adults and youth. For more information about GGP’s Youth Workforce programs and other benefits visit Geauga Growth Partnership or call 440-564- 1060.
GGP would like to thank the participating businesses: ASM International, Auburn Career Center, Bechem Lubrication Technology, De Nora Tech, Dillen Products, Geauga Mechanical, Great Lakes Cheese, Gold Key Processing, Hoar Construction Company, Iron Cowboy Productions, Kent State University, Kinetico, Inc., Lake Geauga Educational Assistance Foundation (LEAF), Metzenbaum Sheltered Industries (MSI), Tarkett USA, United Way Services, University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center.
