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By Ayanna Eckblad

Over 250 area students on Friday spent their morning and afternoon at Albert Lea’s Riverland Community College campus for Minnesota Works: Exploring Tech and Trades in Albert Lea.

The event was put together by the Minnesota State Centers of Excellence with the goal to educate students about the many career opportunities available in the area. The event focused on careers students may not think of, but are in high demand and pay high wages. In addition to teaching students about different careers, the event helped direct students to programs where they can receive the education they need in that field.

Students were from all grade levels of high school. While many were from Albert Lea and Austin high schools, there were also students from as far away as the Twin Cities.

Nathan Hanel of the Minnesota State Centers of Excellence, spoke at one of eight stations students set up at the event.

“I’m here representing agriculture,” Hanel said. “There’s people here representing health, engineering, transportation, energy. These are all careers that are helpful for Minnesota, so we’re trying to help recruit students and help students learn about the offerings that are available.”

While many students only think of farming when they think about agriculture, he said, there are many different career paths people can take.

“Maybe it’s a manager, maybe it’s an accountant, maybe it’s someone who is in engineering, maybe it’s someone who is doing graphical design work for a box of cereal,” he said.

Jason Bruns, center director of the Minnesota State Engineering Center of Excellence, showed students the fun side of the software industry by letting them try on virtual reality headsets with newly-installed and industry-relevant software.

“The students were able to see in real time what a virtual reality assembly might look like, how to take it apart, and the conversation then rolls into, how can we start looking at virtual reality assisting in product development, where you can have people from all around the world work with that,” Bruns said.

He also said he loves seeing students overcome their fear of trying new things and seeing their enjoyment when they realize they have found something they are interested in.

“Maybe that might click with them with regards with a career pathway,” he said.

Another station presenter, Valerie Lockhart, is the executive director of the Minnesota Tech Network. She focused on showing students computer programming and artificial intelligence by doing what she liked to call “a dance algorithm.”

“It’s teaching the components of computing and programming with physical movement, and then recording them with stop motion animation and creating a GIF from it,” she said. “So it’s like breaking down a Tik Tok dance into a step by step. So teaching them how that relates to computer programming.”

In the afternoon, she also taught two sessions on how artificial intelligence works and how to use it to write code and make visualizations.

Lockhart said her favorite part of working with students is watching their excitement and curiosity.

Students also listened to current Riverland students speak about their experiences at the community college during a student panel. The panel included students working in welding, electrical and other areas.

“The ultimate hope for this is to open up students’ eyes in all the opportunities there are in these careers,” Hanel said. “These are high-paying, high-demand jobs.”