On Wednesday, October 14,  all RPS205 freshmen attended the Freshman Expo at the Sportscore 2 facility. The Freshman Expo is an event for new high school students to learn about  different academies and explore careers and organizations within those fields.

  The event was organized by various Rockford public school teachers and counselors with the goal of narrowing students’ academy and pathway choices. In addition, the event also exposed students to unknown career paths.

 “A lot of (the freshmen students) do the generic ‘I want to be a doctor, I want to be an engineer,” said Freshman Academy Principal Amish Shah. “But there are different types and subsections that they just don’t know about.”

  The majority of students agreed that the expo affected their options and opened their eyes to new careers. 

  “I wanted to do something in the HS field,” said Abby Foster, freshman. “I still do, but my views kind of shifted from one end of the spectrum to another.”

  Another purpose of the expo was to help students meet with adults in those careers. Volunteers tried to provide valuable insight into different career paths that could be of interest to attending freshmen.

  “The expo is used to expose students to different types of careers that are available within the Rockford-Winnebago county area,” said biology teacher Mrs. Joanna Skelcy. “They get to know different individuals, different businesses and industries.”

  According to feedback from freshman, many students said that they enjoyed interacting with the booths and staff that were available.

  Freshman Layla Payne said, “I liked that they had so many booths and that we had a lot of time at the booths and we could interact with the stuff.”

  Teachers and administrators see the Freshman Expo as being vital to the well-being of the freshmen as it greatly affects their decision in what academy to join, which determines what path of classes they are required to take.

  “The expo is extremely influential in the decision of which academy is suitable for each student,” said Mrs. Skelcy. “The more information you have, the better you are at naming that decision, so I think that the expo has a significance in the students’ ability to do that.”

  Mr.Shah explained that as far as planning students’ career paths, preparation is key.

  “A lot of freshman don’t really start talking or planning their future like a lot of kids do, like I did when I was in high school, so it’s important to get them introduced to different careers,” said Mr. Shah.

  In the long run, students’ choices place them in an academy which leads them to a possible career choice, making this field trip important as it aids them in making a decision that will stick with them through the rest of their years in high school. Most students enjoyed the time they spent there.

“It was a very interesting experience,” said Julio Herrera, freshman. “The booths were very informative and they knew what they were talking about.”