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Be The Spark 2022 Igniting Career Ideas Through CareerSpark

After a two-year hiatus as an in-person event, CareerSpark, a two-day event where eighth graders get the opportunity to explore different career options, returned to the Peoria Civic Center. About 4,100 eighth graders from over 60 public and private schools from Havana to Morton to Peoria came to downtown Peoria. There they were met by over 400 volunteers who helped them explore dozens of careers. Students got to learn about bricklaying, participate in a social media takeover, dye fabrics for dressmaking, learn hands-only CPR, use a welding simulator and climb through public safety vehicles, just to name a few of the activities.

Keep scrolling ☺️

The students got a hands on experience on birthing a calf. How cool is that? Scroll for a video :)

Two of our wonderful volunteers

Farming Simulation!

Graphic Designing? Check!!

The Artist!

His spooky artistry!!!

The designer

Her Design!

We also had some budding photographers in the building!

The set up....

The Money Shot!!!

Oh, there was music tooo!

And we were lucky to be serenaded by an incredible student!! Keep scrolling, you will see...

The voice of an angel!

From soy beans to cooking oil... food processing.

Landscaping and horticulture!

High school students who have been building robots under the Robot Casserole competition!

Construction and Architecture.

Surgery!

Impromptu public speaking was a hoooot!

Welding simulation.

The very beautiful Rivian Truck made an appearance. WE WANT ONE!!!

Say hi to our future Yogis

When I grow up, I wanna be a law enforcer!

We asked some of the school kids what they wanted to be when they grew up! Scroll further for some of the responses!

SAAAMEEE!

CareerSpark was a raging success, as you can tell! We were pleased to host educational leaders from Chicago Public Schools, the Champaign Education for Employment Office, the Quad Cities Junior Achievement Chapter, and Aurora's Chamber of Commerce, all of whom were interested in learning how to replicate efforts in their communities. We even had JA USA's national team representatives stop in to join the fun!

Many thanks to all our volunteers, sponsors, and schools who participated in the event!

We have more pictures and you can access all 400+ of them by clicking on the button below for a Google Photos Album! We hope you enjoyed this ride! Until next year!

Created By
David Jackson
Appreciate