By Morgan Murphy, junior high reporter

What do you want to be when you grow up? We have all been asked this question many times as children, but how seriously did we take it? On Wednesday, October 21, the eighth graders were given the chance to truly think about their futures when they attended the Crawford County Career Awareness Fair at the Meadville Elks Club.The event, which was sponsored by Laurel Technical Institute, the Crawford County K-12 Education Alliance, and the Meadville-Western Crawford County Chamber of Commerce, was designed to give students a taste of different work fields and ask any questions concerning income, education requirements, and current demand.

At the Career Fair, the students can now understand why our academic achievements and abilities are so important to our futures. Working for NASA, being the world’s greatest surgeon, or winning an Oscar for best acting may seem like impossible dreams, but with hard work and determination, anything is possible.

Principal Tom Baker and guidance counselor Mrs. Rose Watt, who arranged the trip,  wanted the students to realize all of the possible career choices available to them. The students did indeed learn about new professions such as nursing, music and entertainment, business and retail, engineering, and much more. “I wanted to be a technician like my dad, but now I want to be a forensic scientist,” said Oliver Smith.

Many of the eighth-graders would agree with Aurora Phillips who said, “Thank you for letting us go on this trip!” Although the students were only at the event for a brief time, about 90 minutes, it seems that the information gained will have a lasting impact.

As young children, we did not understand the difficulties of most tasks and assignments because we were not troubled with many responsibilities. We would dream of being astronauts or doctors, veterinarians or actors, but what we did not know was the effort needed to reach these goals.