Over 50 companies, organizations and businesses packed the gym Jan. 30 to share information and opportunities with Homewood High School students. 

Classes were encouraged to attend the career fair during their 5th-period study, when students would have the chance to explore a wide variety of tables and booths set up by local participants. 

In the fall, students filled out a needs assessment form and many students requested more career exploration opportunities.

Out of 1027 responses, nearly 74 percent of students, answered “yes” to needing more information exploring career options. 

Senior counselor Bobby Deevers took this feedback and wanted to bring a career fair to Homewood. 

“We decided we needed to give students a way to explore their interests, this being a good, general way to find out about a lot of different careers,” Deevers said. So he and Delisa Brooks, Homewood’s career coach, sent information to many businesses and organizations offering for them to attend the event.

A request was made to the PTO to also send out information in their newsletter inviting participants to share about their unique fields. 

“There are 16 career clusters,

so we wanted to make sure we covered all of the 16 areas, that’s where we started,” Deevers said. “It exploded on us.” 

Some companies that attended were Alabama Power, Federal Reserve Bank, Realty South, Theodora, different areas of UAB and representatives from all of the military branches. 

They also wanted to offer opportunities for summer jobs, so representatives from the YMCA and the Homewood Parks and Recreation also attended. 

HHS senior Sarah Lawson Mistrot said the event was a great way to learn about multiple different career options. 

Students had the opportunity to ask questions and talk with each of the representatives. Videos and one-pagers that exhibited characteristics and descriptions were shown and provided to students. 

The hope is to make this an annual event, bringing in people each year for the event.