Dr. Queen Martin’s community planning class invited students interested in health and human performance careers to “Take steps towards their future,” via their annual spring career fair on April 4 in the MSC ballroom.According to Martin, “the purpose of the fair is to expose students to possible career paths they may want to pursue after graduation.” She has made the planning and implementation of this event a class project for her spring semester community planning course for the past two years.
Senior health major Eboni Eliot, who served as a hostess for the event said, “the planning of this career fair was a little tedious because we had a lot of different ideas to try and bring together.”
The responsibilities of the class included, but were not limited to, securing the location and decorating it, marketing the event, raising funds, and most importantly finding businesses and organizations willing to attend. Those present were University of Texas Medical Branch School of Allied Health, City of Houston Health Department, Methodist Hospital-Willowbrook, Army ROTC, AIDS Foundation of Houston, Access Health, and Career Services.
“I’m here today because of the invitation of one of the students,” said Cheryl Donovan, Executive Director of Access Health. “I want to try to help students identify additional careers that they haven’t thought about, such as working with a non-profit organization like Access Health.”
Aside from providing students with a chance to speak with company representatives and submit resumes, the career fair also offered a few perks. Several gift cards were raffled off during the two-hour event, in addition to the fact that many health and human performance professors offered extra credit for proof of attendance.
However, by the end of the fair it was evident that the majority of the students were there for information pertaining to their future. Tachundra Jackson, senior health and human performance major said, “I’m about to graduate and I wanted to see the different jobs out there, the stations here were very informative.