BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — College and high school students, Bakersfield College is hosting events this semester to get the prospective workers ready to enter the workforce.
Bakersfield College's Career and Technical Education is organizing these work-related events. Last Friday they hosted Manufacturing Day on campus, next is Monday's Firefighter Career Workshop. Both are part of a handful of career events geared towards showing students and the community what career opportunities are available.
Ryan Main and his classmates from Highland High School and the Regional Occupational Center took a field trip on Friday to Bakersfield College's Manufacturing Day. He said he was unaware Bakersfield's workforce had that much to offer.
Main said, "I had no idea about all of this. All of the opportunities I could have here." He continued, "The opportunities here are immense. There are a lot of opportunities that I didn't even realize were here. And through that I can do great things. I can learn as much as I want. And it doesn't have to cost me thousands of dollars to do it. It's a lot cheaper for the same education."
One of the goals of Bakersfield College's Career and Technical Education is to show both college and high school student a career path with an affordable college price is one of the goals of Bakersfield College's career and technical education.
Anthony Cordova is Bakersfield College's career education director. He said, "Our career education department sponsors and puts on a variety of career exploration varieties. They range from manufacturing day to industrial technology day. We've got our public safety day. We've got our nursing and allied health savings day."
Last week Bakersfield College hosted their Manufacturing Day. Their next event is Monday's Firefighter Career Workshop. And partnering with companies and public safety departments to fill open positions in Kern County is a win-win.
Kern County Fire Department Battalion Chief, Butch Agosta, said, "That's a definite saving that the department sees. It's a great partnership that we have by being students at the college it helps us extend our career path through the fire department to not only get the expertise in the specific fields that we work in, but also through the college to get our degrees."
For the local businesses at the Manufacturing Day it was a chance for them to emphasis their employment needs to their potential future workers.
Aera Energy was one of the businesses represented at Manufacturing Day. Lucas Chambers is a team lead for Aera Energy. He said, "We have an ever growing need for engineers. So one of the beauties of B.C. is their pre-engineering programs are great. We've already captured some B.C. alumni. So that's been huge for us as a company. And we want to find their opportunities to gain these youngsters as they're coming through and getting exposed to get them excited about what they can deliver with their new degree."
And for a soon-to-be college student like Main, getting the early jump on what careers are out there will help him with his professional goals.
"Thing that I would be looking forward to is talking with potential people I could be working with in the future," said Main. "Maybe getting some cards. Just immersing myself in the various fields and the various works."
For more information about upcoming career events at Bakersfield College, visit their Facebook page.
