Cullman Middle School eighth grader Luke McGill, on right, gets some direction from Wallace State welding student Austin Handley while trying out one of the school’s welding simulators.

Around 1,000 eighth-graders from every Cullman County school got the chance to explore different career paths that are available in Cullman County during the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce’s Career Awareness Fair at Wallace State Community College Thursday.

Many local businesses, agencies and industries came to the fair to show off their work and allow students to get a feel for the jobs while learning more about what they need to do to get there.

Luke McGill, an eighth-grader at Cullman Middle School, said he appreciated the chance to see some of the jobs that the area has to offer.

“It’s pretty cool to get to learn about all these jobs and what they do,” he said.

McGill said he already has an idea for what he wants to do as a career, working as an engineer or an architect, and he was happy that he and other students were able to go to booths from those fields and all of the others that are available in Cullman County. 

“I think it’s good for all the kids to get to come out and learn about it,” he said.

Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette said a lot of the county’s students don’t realize the plethora of opportunities that Cullman County has to offer, and the Chamber’s career fair helps them get a better feel for the jobs that are in the area.

“To me, it’s planting a seed in their minds of all the occupations out here,” he said.

Barnette said eighth graders are students to bring to the fair every year because it lets them know the education requirements that are needed for certain jobs before they get into high school.

“We want to get to them early enough to make sure they get good enough grades to get into these programs,” he said.

Barnette was there to oversee the event as superintendent, but he was also doing some recruiting, as the Cullman County School System is the largest employer in Cullman County.

Many kids will think of teachers as the only jobs that are available, but there are plenty of other occupations that are in the county school system, and an event like the Career Awareness Fair means that they can get a look at those, he said.

Because every company or organization at the fair is located right here in Cullman County, the fair also lets students know that there are good jobs in the county, and that should help keep some of them in the area to live here and work here, Barnette said.

“That’s what we really want to do,” he said.