In November, Opera Colorado’s
Education Department participated in The Adams County Commisioners’ Career Expo.
This career fair is modeled throughout the country for its innovation and
inclusiveness. The idea behind it is to get 8th graders to start thinking
about their future education and career goals, and it’s designed to accommodate
the entire Adams County population of 8th graders. That’s 5,500
students! Schools are bussed to the Denver Merchandise Mart throughout the day, and
each school stays on site for about an hour. During that hour, the students
have time to visit with businesses, non-profits, and higher education
institutions to learn about the variety of different career paths that are
available to them. Here’s a photo of our booth:
The photo above was taken
BEFORE the students arrived. Below is an after photo:
The day was so rewarding because we were able to connect
with so many students, even the students who had no initial interest in opera.
I can’t count how many times I heard, “Oh, I thought opera was just singing.”
Once they heard all the different jobs that go into creating an opera, their
ears perked up. Suddenly, I had lots of questions about makeup and costume
design, accounting, and marketing. We even had an aspiring glass blower who
wanted to talk about the Chihuly piece in the lobby of the Ellie!
What’s great about the Career
Expo is that students are encouraged to follow up with organizations and
businesses that they developed an interest in. Take a look at some of the
letters we got from students:
Bravo to The Adams County
Commisioners’ Career Expo for such a wonderful day…We look forward to
participating in years to come! Stay in touch with the Education Department by liking Opera
Colorado on Facebook and visiting the Opera Colorado website.
By Meghan Benedetto, Manager of Education & Community Programs
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