Carbon School District Press Release
On Tuesday, Nov. 22, Carbon High School hosted a career fair organized by Zak Konakis of USU Eastern. The event brought representatives from 37 local businesses to the school, ranging from the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office to the San Rafael Energy Research Center to Intermountain Electronics to Lila Canyon Mine, just to name a few.
Konakis explained that this event was in the works since at least the first week of school back in August. He also emphasized that he could not have organized the fair without the help and efforts of Carbon High Assistant Principal Steve Pay and Department of Workforce Services Workforce Development Specialist Nicole Steele.
The fair began with a live-streamed introduction from Dr. Gary Straquadine, who is a former Associate Vice President and Vice Provost of Career and Technical Education for Utah State University and has recently been appointed as Vice Chancellor for the USU Eastern campuses. Straquadine also introduced the keynote speaker, Vice Chairman of Intermountain Electronics Bobby Houston, who is also the company’s Director of Mission Critical.
Houston challenged the students to be open-minded and to take the opportunity to ask questions, emphasizing the fact that he walked the same halls as the students listening.
“We were in this high school 20, 21 years ago, no clue what we were going to do long-term,” he said. “No clue in life. Just terrorizing the teachers in the halls that are still here today and were patient enough to stick with us along the way.”
He spoke of how he would not have ended up where he is now without going into situations with an open mind and taking advantage of opportunities that arose.
The students were reminded that the businesses present were local. They are businesses that really care about their success because not only are many of the representatives parents of Carbon students, or some other relation to them, but these students are their future workforce.
