Area high school students traded time in the classroom for time to learn about potential future employment last Wednesday.
On March 2, the Greater Taylor Chamber of Commerce held its Trades Day Career Fair at the Williamson County Expo Center in Taylor.
Pupils from school districts across the area heard from companies about jobs ranging from plumbing and advanced manufacturing to law enforcement and medical technology.
“It has been as lively as one of these as we ever had,” said Tia Rae Stone, Chamber president. “Already one of the vendors here has identified three people that they’re going to go try to hire next week. … They found out they had the skills they needed.”
Donovan Palacios, a Taylor High School senior, wants to major in marine biology at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, but many of the different options available at Trades Day also piqued his interest.
“I have a lot of family that does firedepartment work, so maybe that might be a good option for me,” said Palacios. “There’s all kinds of opportunities here. Why not try to look for something new? Something else might catch my eye.”
The last Trades Day was held in 2020 shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re getting good feedback,” said Stone. “We got some things that we’ll improve upon next year, but that’s always the goal.”
