NORTHAMPTON — As graduation approaches for high school seniors, some students at Smith Vocational and Agricultural School are gearing up to get a job.
At the school’s first annual career fair on Tuesday, a group of eight students dressed in matching black sweatshirts with “Cosmetology SVAHS” on the back gathered around the Supercuts table.
“What kind of people do you hire?” a student asked a hairstylist representing the chain who launched into an explanation about qualifications for the job.
Chelsea Haber, a junior studying cosmetology, said her plan is to get her license, which requires 1,000 hours of instruction, and then get a job in the field. The fair helped her, the said: “You get a good idea of what salons are looking for.”
A range of employers set up at the school, including Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Pioneer Landscapes, Wright Architectural Millwork, Six Flags and Local Burger, as well as the University of Massachusetts Amherst police and the Army, Navy and Marines. The vocational school, which serves students from all over Hampshire County, provides instruction in a range of trades, including carpentry, plumbing and culinary arts.
The fair’s goal: Let seniors network with area employers and help juniors search for summer work, said the school’s vocational director, Melanie Chartier.
“Our students are pretty unique … They have a lot of life experience to talk about,” said Max Weider, a school counselor, pointing out that, in addition to concrete skills, many students have work experience. Juniors and seniors at the school are able to participate in the cooperative work program, where they alternate between a week of work and a week of academic classes.
About half of the school’s graduates go on to some type of post-secondary education, including two- and four-year colleges and trade schools, according to Weider.
For Briana Joyner, a junior from Cummington on the health-tech track, the career fair was useful in connecting her to potential employers. She said, in other circumstances, she could imagine walking into a potential employer’s business asking for an application and not be taken seriously. “They don’t understand we get our CNA (certified nursing assistant training) here,” she said.
For her, it was not a hard decision to come to Smith Vocational.
“I’m a hands-on learner,” Joyner said, adding that she knows there’s a stereotype associated with vocational schools.
“I think it has a stigma — ‘this is the stupid kids,’” she said. “I think kids that go to this school are more ambitious than people think.”
Many are in the workforce by their junior year through the co-op program, Joyner said. She has access to Advanced Placement classes and is in the National Honors Society, she continued.
Camille Banas, a junior from South Hadley on the animal-science track, stood next to a table for Linda Manor, a senior health care and housing facility in Leeds where Banas did some clinical work her freshman year.
In coming to the school, it was hard to choose what to focus on, she said, but a program exposing students to all the tracks helped.
Sophia Didonna, who work at Supercuts, said the business has hired Smith Vocational students in the past. “We love the students here, absolutely,” she said. “The students are very professional here.” A major strength of the school’s program, Didonna added, is that many graduates leave with their cosmetology license.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com