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This past week, around 80 juniors from area high schools gathered at the Holiday Inn Weirton-Steubenville and Undo's to receive a few lessons in the hope it would better prepare them for their future.
Each year, the Weirton Area Chamber of Commerce's Education Committee organizes the Dr. Barbara A. Matey High School Business Symposium, bringing together students from West Virginia, Ohio, and (sometimes) Pennsylvania for a full-day workshop. During the day, they hear directly from members of the local business community who speak with them about proper ways to prepare for a job interview, as well as how to conduct themselves when looking for a job, they learn about the importance of branding and marketing when operating a business, and they learn about budgeting.
No matter what path a student takes in their life, whether they enter the workforce immediately after high school, enlist in the military, go to a technical school, or work toward a two- or four-year degree, these are all things they will need at some point in their lives.
As a matter of transparency, I am the current chair of the Chamber's Education Committee, and, as such, help to organize the program.
I earned my appreciation, though, from my predecessor on the committee, who poured so much of herself into it over the years.
I've been involved in the Chamber since 2008, and it already was a well-established program at that time. Barbara Matey was chair of the Education Committee then, and emphasized the importance of providing these educational opportunities to our local youth.
While many knew her from her years at Hancock County Savings Bank, Barbara was an educator at heart. She recognized there were some life skills not always being provided to our youth through their formal education, or even at home.
Barbara often would enlist her coworkers and friends to assist, making sure the event ran smoothly each year.
That's why, following her passing in 2013, we felt it appropriate to name the symposium in her honor. We wanted to keep her memory, and the mission of the program, alive.
This year's program including participants from Brooke, Madonna, Oak Glen, Steubenville, Weir, and Indian Creek high schools.
We invited others, but they opted not to send students this year.
Students are expected to dress professionally, as a way to reinforce the importance of how they present themselves.
For the budgeting segment, they are each assigned a job, with a listing of the type of salary one could expect to receive with each position. It might be a doctor, a fast-food worker, an educator, a member of the military service, or maybe a journalist. They then get to see the types of expenses they would experience today, and are tasked with figuring out their budget based on those real-world numbers, learning about the importance of needs versus wants and setting priorities for their spending.
They also learn about the proper ways to compile a resume, and are shown demonstrations of good and bad job interviews, so they have a better idea of the best ways to act when looking for employment.
The marketing segment shows the role colors, logos, and words can play in helping to recognize a particular brand, and even the way it can influence someone into purchasing a particular product.
I would like to express my appreciation to Zach White, Rachel Keeney, Amy Grant, Dan Day, and Ashley Flaherty, as well as Carole Scheerbaum, for assisting with these presentations, along with all of the volunteer facilitators who lent their time throughout the day. In addition, thanks to Anne Clements, the chamber's new programs coordinator, for her work in making sure everything came together.
These programs take a community to put together, and my hope is to see such support in the years ahead, as well as to get more schools to participate again.
It's an opportunity to provide guidance for the youth of our community, to assist them in preparing for their future. That's not something I want to see go away any time soon.
(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter/X @CHowellWDT)