Students learn about job opportunities at SCK Launch

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Taking the question, ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ to the next level. middle schoolers from around the region got hands-on experience exploring future career opportunities at this year’s South-Central Kentucky Launch.

It was the fourth year that the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce has put on the SCK Launch. The chief operating officer at the Chamber said, it’s their biggest year yet.

“This year we have 14 school districts from 11 counties participating. We’ll have over 3,500 kids today,” said Meredith Rozanski, COO at Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.

Hundreds of eighth graders packed into the Knicely Conference Center for the expo. One student said she figured out what she wants to be while attending .

“I want to be an orthopedic surgeon,” said Lucy Lo, student at Bowling Green Junior High

Health Care professionals are in high demand here in our community, and Lucy wasn’t the only student interested in the field.

“I want to be a nurse,” said another student at Bowling Green Junior High.

Not all the jobs at the expo required a degree, and an assistant principal at Bowling Green Junior High said that’s a good thing.

“We’ve pushed college really hard for a while. College is still very important, but there are a ton of jobs right here in this community that don’t really require a college education,” said Bowling Green Junior High School eighth grade assistant principal John Dempsey.

Many of those jobs Dempsey was referring to are in high demand throughout the state.

“They walk out of here, and go I’m going into healthcare, or I’m going into construction or I’m going into manufacturing. So, a lot of great opportunities for them,” said Rozanski.

As for the student who said she wants to be a nurse, she also doesn’t think that eighth grade is too young to decide.

“As eighth graders, I think we should be able to pick. We’re almost going into high school, and I think we should be able to pick what we want to do and what career we want to be,” she said.

The Chamber partnered with the Bowling Green Independent School District, Warren County Public Schools and local businesses like WNKY to put on the event.