With less than three months remaining in the school year, students at Orestimba High School had the opportunity to meet multiple recruiters and learn about various trade professions during the school’s fourth annual career fair held inside Kerry McWilliams Memorial Gymnasium on Monday.

The event, which started in 2023, featured more than 30 employers such as the California Highway Patrol and Universal Technical Institute. Some representatives provided a demonstration of what's done in a specific profession from local barbers giving students free haircuts to testing someone’s endurance through a pull-up challenge.

Scheduling this year’s event was different in years past. For the past three years, the expo was held on regularly scheduled days, which led to challenges in allocating a classroom time for it, said Brittney Clark, a librarian at OHS and the event’s coordinator.

To avoid issues, the trade fair was held on a Monday, the school’s weekly early release day. For that day, periods are 40 minutes long. Students, during each period, had the opportunity to explore more of the offerings they may have missed out on. Some classes had an entire period dedicated to the event while others allotted time within its class for the trade fair, Clark said.

Upon entering the gymnasium, each student received a slip that offers some general questions to ask recruiters and a section where it's stamped after speaking with a representative. After getting the nine stamps, the slip is entered into a raffle where students could earn prizes, including a Chromebook, hats and shirts. Clark said the stamp system was to ensure the students “actually talk to our visitors.”

“It’s not just, ‘Hi, stamp my paper,’ they have to talk about their job and talk about who they are [and] why they’re here,” she said.

While Monday’s fair was a chance for organizations to showcase what they can offer in the trades profession, it was also an opportunity to get an idea of how Orestimba’s event stands out against other schools. This was the case for Todd Daugherty, an electrical program instructor at Hayward-based Eden Area Regional Occupational Program.

In his third overall career fair event he’s attended this year, Daugherty said the students at Orestimba engaged with him more than other students he’s spoken with. Daugherty added that the stamp system was "fantastic for getting kids to engage.”

“I probably thought I was only going to see about half the kids I saw today,” he said. “It was double what I expected.”

Adam Vargas, the owner of Empresarios Barbershop, said he’s been involved with the school's career fair since its inception. He wanted to show students that there were “a lot of options other than going to a 4-year college.” Throughout his time at the event, Vargas was commonly asked questions on how long it takes to become a barber and the pay rate, he said. A student that he met through the career fair was later hired as an apprentice at the barber shop.

As an alumnus, Vargas hopes he can inspire the younger generation of students to follow their aspirations. “I wanted to be able to show these kids that I was in the same class [they] were in,” he said. “I created my business, my barbershop, my barber college [and] my franchise [while] coming from the same environment you guys came from, and that’s why I love going to these.”

For some recruiters, they changed their approach from the year prior to engage more with students. Salvador Miramontes, a painting instructor at Finishing Trades Institute, handed out students pamphlets during last year’s event. As they received their brochure and left, Miramontes knew something had to change the following year. Eventually, he decided to bring the virtual reality headset that included a program used by apprentices to republicate real-life tasks like painting walls and applying floor layers. 

Students are immersed into an empty room upon putting on the headset where they are supplied with equipment, Miramontes said. With the help of the joycons, they can use it for a spray gun or brush, offering a glimpse of what it's like to be a painter.

“It’s really helpful for them to see why it works [and] what is the real work,” Miramontes said. “When they see the actual room where they’re supposed to be working, they make it more exciting.”

His plan seemed to pay off as students lined up to try the virtual experience. As each student got immersed in the experience, Miramontes, standing nearby, couldn’t help but smile.

While some seniors used Monday’s event to explore possible careers after high school, senior Mannex Baker said he focused on building connections. Following his graduation in May, Baker plans on joining the Navy, a career path that he found out through connecting with a recruiter at a previous career fair.

“With these networking opportunities, I got to use my community hours and connect with people, and these people have led him to where I’m at right now,” he said.

With how large the turnout was this year, Clark said she’s certain that the event will happen again next year. She hopes there’s more demonstrations showcased in the future such as the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department taking students on a helicopter ride.

“I’m thankful for everybody that came out this year and helped, and I look forward to topping it next year,” Clark said.