The Longview event helps 2,000 students in East Texas learn about education, career opportunities

About 2,000 students from East Texas high schools learned about college and career opportunities Thursday during the City of Longview’s first College and Career Expo at the Maude Cobb Convention and Activity Center.

Cari Roberts, city manager, said the event has benefited some of the area’s rural schools. Representatives from about 65 businesses and colleges set up booths to talk to students from New Diana, Henderson, Pine Tree, Harmony, Pittsburg and other counties.

The event was intended to help students in smaller districts that may not be able to host college events and similar events, Roberts said. By consolidating those districts, they were able to get attention from other major organizations.

Roberts said she wants to host the event to help students learn about all they can do. The event was beneficial not only in helping the city of Longview find workers, but also in helping other employers hire local talent.

Students can learn about career paths that interest them and schools that offer the training or degree they’ll need for those jobs, Roberts said.

He said the students enjoyed the event.

“The most important thing to me is to have the kids here, to give them opportunities to talk to people that they might not have the opportunity to get them into schools that maybe they don’t know they can go to. ,” said Roberts. “It is what fills my heart.”

The event has been rescheduled for next year with some changes, Roberts said.

Longview ISD students did not attend the event because the district is large enough to host its own college and career fairs, Roberts said.

Students who visited the booth run by Eastman Chemical Co. they could learn about the different products the company makes and take home a rubber duck – a duck made from Eastman 168, a phthalate-free plastic. The chemical is used to make plastic products flexible.

Greg Sykes, Eastman engineer, said company leaders want to help students learn about career opportunities available at Eastman and other local industries.

Eastman offers scholarships for students interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers, and the company works with local community colleges to offer two-year programs that qualify students for jobs at a facility outside the Longview city limits.

Students could read the many pages of information posted on the company’s blue desk. One of the pages listed the types of qualities employers are looking for in prospective employees. Chief among those qualities, Sykes said, is character.

He said: “Any employer can teach them any job under the sun. But an employer cannot teach them humanity. That is what they should bring.”

In a nearby booth operated by electrical contracting company Humphrey & Associates, high school junior Landen Payne was playing with a display of electrical wiring. He is interested in becoming an electrician.

Payne said the job fair is “very good.”

He said: “It can be very helpful, helping people decide what they want to do and what interests them.

High school seniors Khairiya Wallace, Justyce Writt and Aikhyrah Hall stopped by a booth for the Longview Parks and Recreation Department.

Writt said the event provides information about different colleges. The three said they were happy to visit the different booths.

“I’m either going to be a dental hygienist or a pharmacy technician,” Writt said. “But [the event] it gives you a chance to think about things you can do if things don’t go well for you.”