Tyrone Area students explore career options

TYRONE -- Students navigating their postsecondary education and career path options received valuable guidance from business and community leaders Friday at the Tyrone Area High School's student career exposition.

The event was sponsored by the Tyrone Area Chamber of Commerce and was held for the first time in five years, said Rose Black, the chamber's executive director and Tyrone Area's school board president.

"We wanted to bring it back because we feel it's important to reach kids earlier and get them to start thinking of their future careers," Black said. "We realize this is the future of our business community."

Beginning their day in the school's auditorium, students heard from speakers Kris Laird, InspectionGo's sales enablement director who is also a school board member; Steve McKnight, the Altoona Blair County Development Corp.'s president and chief executive officer; and keynote speaker Joe Hartford, founder and president of Reclamere, a data security company in Tyrone.

McKnight said Blair County has a history of innovation that people should be proud of. He told students they have opportunities to stay in Blair County after graduating high school, and if they decide to leave the area to pursue their dreams, they will always have an opportunity to return home.

Hartford said college is not the right path for every student to pursue. He encouraged undecided students to find a problem they care about solving and to create their own path to entrepreneurship.

"Find a way to create value for somebody else," he said. "You will make more money than you can possibly understand."

Hartford told the students they matter as individuals and challenged them to "become comfortable with the quiet" because they'll develop their best ideas in silence, he said, adding students can use technology to develop their ideas.

"Your phone is not the enemy," Hartford said. "It's what is done with your phone and what you allow it to do to yourself that is the enemy."

Throughout the school day, students rotated through workshops and learned how to master their resume writing and interview skills, be mindful of their digital footprints left on social media, use artificial intelligence efficiently and learned the importance of building strong relationships.

W. R. Grace Co. regional human resources manager Tom Getz taught students the "dos and don'ts" of job interviews.

Students, like sophomore Cliff Wilson, learned to arrive at an interview early, dress appropriately, ask important questions and how to prepare a strong closing statement. Getz told students they should never speak negatively about a former boss or a previous employer. They should also avoid using filler words and asking about compensation immediately, he said.

Getz, a Tyrone Area graduate, said the more the students can become comfortable with being uncomfortable, the better their chances are at succeeding in life.

"When I was going to my first job interviews, we didn't have these types of programs to help us prepare," Getz said.

Wilson said he found Getz's tips helpful and wants to pursue a business or music career after graduation. A member of the marching and jazz bands, Wilson said Tyrone Area has "good classes" and teachers who push him to succeed.

In another session, Amy Mearkle, DelGrosso's Amusement Park marketing and advertising director, taught students how to use social media platforms effectively for career success.

Juniors Caleb Sweitzer and Owen Oaks said they learned that anything they post on social media will follow them throughout their lives and could be used against them in job interviews.

Sweitzer said he plans to become an eye doctor after graduation, while Oaks plans to pursue a business major in college with a baseball scholarship. Oaks, wearing his Tyrone Golden Eagles football jersey, said the school's sports programs prepared him for college by teaching him how to work hard and manage his time wisely.

Kel Cecil, InspectionGo's vice president of engineering, taught the students how to navigate the future of technology through artificial intelligence.

Senior Cami Weyer said she wants to pursue a nursing career and was intrigued when Cecil mentioned students can use AI-enhanced robots to practice health care skills in a safe environment.

"That was really cool," Weyer said of the robots. "I didn't know there were things out there like that."

In the school's gymnasium, where a career fair was held, students were encouraged to visit all

32 vendors and ask open-ended questions to complete tasks on a scavenger hunt sheet. If they completed the tasks, they were entered to win one of 10 prizes from the Tyrone-Snyder Public Library.

One of the tasks involved asking representatives from the Altoona Beauty School about the school's programs.

Rosalind Ferrara, the school's admissions representative, said the school offers cosmetology, nail technology and aesthetics programs that are gaining popularity because of social media platforms like TikTok.

"The beauty industry is booming right now," Ferrara said, adding beauty schools offer "a different opportunity" for students to build their success in life.

Junior Addison Teeters said she plans to attend the Salon Professional Academy in Altoona after graduation, noting she has wanted to pursue a cosmetology career since she was 10 years old.

"I've always loved to do hair," Teeters said, adding she dyes her hair every month.

The Tyrone Area School Board doubled the number of community service hours seniors need in order to graduate this year from 15 to 30 hours, according to Black.

Several vendors, like Camp Anderson, can offer the students "valuable life skills" through community service, said Cummins McNitt, the camp's vice president and a former high school history teacher who retired from the district last school year.

"Volunteerism is the backbone of our nation, and our backbone is getting kind of weak," McNitt said, adding volunteer service teaches students to be concerned about their community.

"When you have that concern, you buy into your community, its importance and its value," he said. "Those are lessons that we all need to continually learn and teach on to others."

The event ended in the school's auditorium where Shoe Fly President Todd Lewis and Steller Innovations President Evan Stover delivered remarks.

Superintendent Leslie Estep said "it's pretty special" whenever students can take away meaningful lessons from people other than their teachers and parents, and she was happy the district and the chamber were successful in bringing the program back this year.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.