Forge Expo held at EMCC to teach students about construction careers

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Hundreds of junior high school students are learning about careers in construction.

About 1,000 8th grade students from Clay, Lowndes, and Oktibbeha counties attended the “Forge Expo” at the Communiversity today.

The event included hands-on demonstrations in the use of tools and technology used in the industries like construction, manufacturing, and industrial maintenance.

Organizers wanted to show that college isn’t the only option for kids who will one day be looking for a high-paying job.

“A lot of community members and kids don’t know what’s in their community so events like this allow us to highlight a lot of different opportunities allow them to interact with people who could be employing them one day,” Courtney Taylor, VP Workforce Development, EMCC.

“There’s a great opportunity to go straight to the workforce, make a lot of money because these skills are really high demand,”  Nic Parish, Forge Founding member. “There’s a lot of kids that haven’t been able to touch any of this stuff they get to hammer nails, they get to run concrete saws they get to play with concrete they get to climb on equipment and everything and these are opportunities they’d never gotten to experience at school.”

Parish says there will be more events like this to bring awareness to the workforce