ACE held its annual career day fair to let students hear first-hand experience on the jobs they are interested in pursuing.

In mid March, students were given a list of careers being presented during the fair and were able to choose and rank which they were most interested in. Later, they were given a schedule of the careers they would be learning about based on their choices.

Some of the career choices included cosmetology, working with comfort dogs, law enforcement and forensics, firefighting, music production, culinary, massage therapy, yoga, and dog grooming.

Students enjoyed the opportunities the fair offered. “I was most interested in the massage therapy because I connected with the massage therapist with helping others and finding other methods to help besides talking and normal therapy,” said junior Adail Alicea. “I enjoyed learning about how there are different ways to help people physically and mentally.”

Singer, songwriter, and ACE Alumni Dawn Tallman taught music production and told the classes about the music industry, emphasizing how important it is to pursue your dreams.

“I would hope that this career fair helps these students to really dream and be inspired. I know it’s going to take a lot of hard work but I want these kids to say to themselves ‘If she can do it, so can I,’” she said. “This school does a great job at letting students be creative and express themselves, that’s what I loved about being here.”

Music production was one of the most popular choices among ACE students. “I was most interested in the music production one because I was looking into schools for music production and I thought it was really cool that that was one of the options,” said Danny Murray, senior.

Another career ACE students enjoyed was the comfort dogs career. Bev Thompson, a volunteer comfort dog handler, came with Maggie, a trained comfort dog. Bev Thompson and ACE teacher Katya Piergostini are both volunteer comfort dog handlers and told students about how Maggie is trained and how she helps people every day. Thompson takes Maggie to the hospital once a week to visit patients healing from life changing injuries.

“I really liked the comfort dogs career. I think it is amazing how you can train dogs to help others get through hard times,” said senior Julianna Shaw.

Not only did students find the career fair helpful for jobs they wish to pursue, but it also helped with life skills that will prepare them for after high school. Cooking was one of those skills.

“I chose the culinary career because I don’t know how to cook and I’m a senior and I’m going to be living on my own. I found the ‘Tasty Temptations’ class to be very helpful,” said Murray.