89 Local High School Students Attend Job Fest

From Betsy Street, Monadnock Center for Successful Transitions: Job Fest 2009, a hands-on educational event for graduating high school seniors seeking employment in the Monadnock region, was held at Keene State College on May 21 in the Student Center and Rhodes Hall. Students attended job skills workshops (resumes, interviews, etc.) in the morning and an actual job fair in the afternoon. Eighty-nine students from Keene, Monadnock Regional, Fall Mountain Regional, Conant, Contoocook Valley Regional, and Wilton-Lyndeboro Cooperative Regional high schools participated, as well as 25 local employers or training programs. The event was organized by a coalition of social service agencies and high schools.

Job Fest, now in its fourth year, was created out of a challenge issued at the NH State Youth Vision Forum in October 2005. One of the speakers that day said employers wanted youth to “Show up, speak up, dress up, and respect work.” His words resonated with people from the Keene area, and out of the ensuing conversations was born Job Fest. Job Fest 2009 was funded by the Monadnock Center for Successful Transitions and the NH Charitable Foundation – Monadnock Region.