BELLVILLE – Clear Fork students were introduced to a variety of post-graduation employment opportunities on Friday right outside the school.

Approximately 850 high school and middle school students were able to interact with 26 area employers at Clear Fork’s Mobile Workforce and Entrepreneur Day.

“The whole purpose of this is to really open the eyes of kids to see what’s out there,” said high school principal Brian Brown. “We push college so much, and that’s what you hear about, but here we have much needed jobs that still require some training, and it doesn’t have to be four years of college.”

Throughout the late morning and into the afternoon, students mingled with local employers and had lunch from four food trucks.

“We brought in the food trucks as a bonus for our students, but also because food trucks are huge right now,” school counselor Cindy Truex said. “You can make some money there, and we want students to be able to talk to them.”

Juniors and seniors also heard a presentation from Spherion Mid-Ohio about interview techniques.

“They’ll touch on that so students understand the importance of dressing nicely, eye contact, handshakes, things like that,” Truex said.

One of the vendors, vice president of Jones Potato Chips Darryl Jones, said these “soft skills” are essential.

“That’s the starting point, the attendance and the attitude,” he said.

Jones also hopes students understand the variety of jobs available locally.

“We want them to just realize there are local businesses with a variety of jobs,” he said. “I think some of them think factory work is just one thing.

“When in reality, we have people doing mechanical things; there’s people in management; there’s office work.”

Sophomore Tacoma Orr attended his first Mobile Workforce and Entrepreneur Day last year.

“Freshman year, we had it, and I thought it was a really cool experience for everyone to see what companies are about and what you can do when you graduate,” he said.

He intends to go to college but appreciates the opportunity to see other options.

Fellow sophomore Brennan South plans to attend college for engineering. He also enjoyed the event, looking at it as a chance to meet local employers.

“I think it opens up your eyes to what’s out there,” South said. “I like walking around and seeing what different jobs are in the area and what we can do when we graduate.”