ACHO DENE KOE/FORT LIARD
Conceptualizing career paths can be hard when students haven't been exposed to them, according to the principal of Echo Dene School in Fort Liard.

"Students need to be able to conceptualize through visualization and hands-on experience, which they don't get in small communities," said William Gowans.

The school hosted a career fair last week that saw representatives from Beaver Enterprises, Northwestel, Aurora College, The North West Company, the Hamlet of Fort Liard and several departments of the territorial government give presentations.

All of the high school students took part and asked questions to the presenters, while the Grade 5/6 class dropped in toward the end to get an idea of what a career fair is like.

Gowans said the fair helped students focus on educational requirements they might need for different jobs.

"That was the dual purpose of the career fair: to help students focus on education and also give students an idea of what vocational opportunities are out there," he said.

"It's important because we're in a pretty small community and we're somewhat isolated, so having an idea of what's available really helps our students."

Gowans said a few students were drawn in by a lifeguarding job at the pool this summer, which was being promoted by the hamlet. Northwestel also got a lot of questions, with several students showing interest in the potential engineering and electrical technology aspects of the work.

He added that a lot of students were interested in working for the Northern store, seeing as many of their peers already worked there.

"They wanted to get a part-time job," said Gowans. "They were quite interested in that."

Grade 11 student Ross Duntra said he found the career fair interesting.

"I was interested in heavy duty mechanics," he said, adding he liked the Northwestel display and tourism opportunities offered by the GNWT. "I thought those were pretty cool."

Duntra said he is entertaining the idea of leaving Liard to pursue higher education and coming back with skills the community currently lacks.

"When I graduate, I think I want to go further in the trades," he said.

Grade 9 student Katrina Emmons said she's still thinking about what type of career she might like to have. She recognizes that she might have to leave Liard to pursue some opportunities.

"I think you might have to leave if you want a good job," she said. "There are not many job openings here."

Gowans said it can be hard for students to find work after high school.

"It's not because our students don't have the education," he said. "It's because our students haven't been exposed to a lot of different opportunities. We're a fairly small community and there aren't that many job opportunities are available here in the community and many of our students have been insulated from going to larger centres like Fort Smith."

For the last few years, Echo Dene School has made it a priority to get students out of the community and to nearby towns like Fort Nelson, B.C., to see what kind of opportunities exist.

"When you don't know what's out there because you've never seen it before, it's pretty hard for students to set goals," said Gowans. "I think more than anything in my career probably the most important thing we've attempted to do with senior high school students is get them focused on a goal. Once they know what direction they're heading then they can fill in the blanks of what they have to do to meet that goal."

He hopes that students can follow through on their goals and find careers after high school.

"There are far too many people in communities who are not gainfully employed and not working," said Gowans.

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