ABOVE: Reagan Christians, center, a student at Mountain Lake High School, learns how take an ultrasound with the help of Mayo Clinic Radiology members Gabbi Stenzel, left, and Crystal Chapman, right, Wednesday morning at the Area Career Exploration job fair at Fairmont High School.

FAIRMONT– In an effort to show area high school students local employment opportunities, several entities annually organize Area Career Exploration (ACE). The event, now in its 16th year, was held Wednesday at Fairmont High School.

ACE is a joint venture between the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC), city of Fairmont, Fairmont Area Community Education and Recreation (CER) and the Fairmont Area School District.

On Wednesday about 600 sophomore students from Fairmont High School, Blue Earth Area Schools, Granada-Huntley-East Chain, Martin County West, Martin Luther High School, Truman High School, St. James, Mountain Lake and Butterfield-Odin attended the event.

While many people may know that ACE includes a job fair with about 65 local businesses set up in the gym, many may be unaware of the panel and game show that students participate in prior to that.

Tammie Hested, an organizer of ACE with ties to MVAC, brought in the panel and game show about 10 years ago.

“We thought it was important to get young people from the area to share their stories,” Hested said.

This year the panel consisted of 12 individuals who grew up in the area and graduated from local high schools. They have all made the decision to either stay or move back to the area as they have found employment opportunities here.

One thing Hested strives to do in lining up the panel each year is make sure that varying levels of education and careers are represented on the panel.

“There’s so many ways to be successful in life. It’s not all about how much education you have– there’s a lot of ways to make it work,” Hested said.

Those represented on the panel included graduates of Fairmont High School, Granada-Huntley-East Chain, Martin County West, Martin Luther and the former ALC (now Arise Academy). Some had gone to two or four year colleges while others received no education past high school or had received a certification in their area of expertise.

They represented area businesses including Profinium Bank, Easy Automation, Kahler Automation, Mayo Clinic Health System and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

“Some important things were talked about, like the importance of being mindful of what you post on social media,” Hested said.

That information came from Kenlie Maday, a graduate of Granada-Huntley-East Chain who now works in human resources at Easy Automation, Inc.

“I like that Taylor talked about having a backup plan and that while it’s great to have goals, you need to have backup plan, too,” Hested said.

Taylor Nawrocki, another gradate of GHEC, had shared that he went on to college to play baseball with the hopes of going pro but an injury had put a damper on that. However, he found a place for himself later on at Profinium Bank.

“I think what Adam (Carstensen) talked about, about the skills that CTE (Careers and Technical Education) classes teach you about communication and problem solving was really impactful,” Hested said.

Another message Hested enjoyed was from Karen Flores, who after graduating from Fairmont High School had intended to pursue a career in education but has since opened up a coffee shop inside Indulge & Co. on Downtown Plaza, Fairmont.

“There’s a lot of possibilities and you don’t know what you don’t know, especially if you’re not exposed to it,” Hested said. “Students seemed very interested in what was being (by our panelists) this year.”