More than 800 8th graders from McHenry County middle schools attended McHenry County College’s Career Quest event Friday, March 8. The event invited students to participate in an immersive experience to explore career pathways and prepare for high school.
Students were in attendance from Nippersink, Northwood, Creekside, Fox River Grove, Alden-Hebron, Marengo
Community, and Heineman Middle Schools as well Prairie Grove and Harvard Junior High Schools.
The event was broken up into three parts: pre-event curriculum, which included use of MCC’s Career Coach assessment tool and information on financial literacy; the day-of event activities, which included a Career Exploration presentation, the Career Quest Zone where students could meet with representatives from MCC’s academic programs and professionals in related industries, and a campus tour of MCC; and post-event curriculum which included educational planning and career exploration tools for families.
“We received a lot of positive feedback from students, educators, and local employers,” said Catherine Jones, Associate Vice President of Workforce Development at MCC. “The students seemed to really enjoy the career quest zone and had a great time interacting with each station. It was a great opportunity for them to experience a variety of career paths and get excited about the future.”
The College plans to host the event again next year.
Career Quest aligns with the Illinois middle school requirement for postsecondary and career exploration.