Emily Ford design chief
Early on Friday, March 7, students and faculty alike prepped for one of the biggest events the Crossland Technology Center (CTC) hosts during the semester. High school students, and even some community college students, all who were looking for the next steps in their educational careers, gathered in the CTC to learn about the potential their paths could take if they chose Pitt State.
“We usually host this on the first Friday in November and the first Friday in March,” John Iley, special assistant of the CTC and main organizer said, “and for this event, there’s over a dozen different venues. We’ll have over 60 demonstrations or displays throughout those venues and what the event is designed to do is provide schools an opportunity to bring students to investigate careers in technology.”
The event allows students to get a better understanding of what the school can offer.
“The big thing is students that go through this, they can make a more informed decision as far as what they might want to do career wise when they graduate from high school,” Iley said. “We also have some community college students that are transferring, and this might be one of two or three schools that they’re looking to transfer to, it gives them an opportunity to get firsthand experience related to the culture of the university as well as what the career is like.”
“It’s just so great to get students into this building,” Madison Hite, director of development for the College of Technology, said. “Just coming out here, people don’t know what is in this building, and then we get to open our doors and shut down the labs and show them what we do. Nine times out of ten, students walk out of here either not knowing what the heck they are walking into, knowing what they’re going to do, or they come back next year and want to know more. It’s just so great, and even the teachers learn more every time they’re here.”
As stated previously, there are several demonstrations offered throughout the event, ranging from vehicle simulation to vinyl car wrapping. “What’s really nice about that is not only do they get to see demonstrations,” Iley said, “and in some cases get their ‘hands dirty’ by participating in the demonstrations and making things that they might be able to take home. They get to interact with our faculty and our students and they get a fist hand account of what the major is all about; what they like about it, what they don’t like about it, and in some cases they get to visit with students who have already gone on internships and students can tell them about their internship experiences.”
Even if Pitt State is not the first choice of the students that turn out to this event, they can still recommend it to their peers.
“I just think it shows them what we have in our backyard.” Hite said, “We do have people who travel some 2-3 hours, but getting students in, showing them, what Pitt State is; some people don’t always think College of Technology when you think Pitt State, you think athletics or business. So just getting them out here, showing them what we have, and they might be a student who had absolutely no clue where they were going to go, and maybe they weren’t going to go to college, and they go, you know, like ‘Man, that professor changed my life in a five minute conversation.’ I think it’s impactful even if they don’t end up coming here, maybe their brother will, or their sister, or their best friend.”
The event was an overall success with incredibly high attendance and interaction.