Last Wednesday, McHenry hosted its annual Manufacturing, Trades, and Industry Expo in the Center for Science, Industry, and Technology. The expo provides students an opportunity to be exposed to career options they may be interested in in the future.

Every year McHenry High School hosts the Manufacturing, Trades, and Industry Expo. These past two years the expo has been held in the Center for Science, Technology, and Industry at the Upper Campus, with the main hallways lined with booths for local companies and corporations’ representatives to talk with students about career-related information. Engineering teacher Russel Micklinghoff states “The more students are aware of what’s happening in the local industry, the better connections they can make to the schooling they are currently getting.” Students can talk to representatives about what each company and corporation does and what path they can go down to eventually get hired, which is great to help students discover their likes and dislikes of possible career fields. 

Kelly Allen, a representative from BTM Industries explains that “The trades are extremely important, and there are so many different types of manufacturing represented here. It’s not just one type of industry, it’s many different industries brought together to make one big.”

This is the first year MCHS has included medical corporations. Some of these included MCC, Northwestern medicine, and A-TEC Ambulance. These corporations gave students better insight into medical opportunities after high school. Medical Residency student Emilija Nikitovic shares that “I always thought, starting my freshman year, there was only one direction that I would go and now in my fourth year, coming to the MTI Expo there’s so many more opportunities that I didn’t even dream of.”

Hallways were packed and many students got a better look at what a future in the science, manufacturing, technology, and industry would look like.