To support PPT presentation Futures Fair

1. Futures Fair: “Making It Here” Innovation
and Entrepreneurship
www.careerteacher.wordpress.com
“The Futures Fair is an opportunity for students to meet with and talk to adults in our
community who are successful because they are creative and innovative thinkers,” said Sue Fox,
creative
career education and work curriculum coordinator at Hatboro Horsham High School, who
Hatboro-Horsham
designed the project. “We want our students to discover exciting new ways to unlock their
creative potential and we know that the Futures Fair will add to our school’s environment – one
that encourages innovation and allows it to flourish.”
“I was down at the fair and it was a hit! I talked to vendors and I also spoke with students during
I
th
4 period. The vendors seemed excited to talk about their craft and the students did talk about
viewing different careers as options. One perspective the students appreciated was that those
professionals that were there were passionate about what they did for a living. Nice job in
presentation and with the chosen people/professions. I think that they were interest
interesting and had a
lot to offer.” -Christy Matik, English Teacher
,
6ABC WPVI Philadelphia-Futures Fair coverage (video-www.careerteacher.wordpress.com
Futures .wordpress.com)
Bucks County Courier Times: Students get a peak at possible fut
futures by CRISSA SHOEMAKER
DEBREE (article-www.careerteacher.wordpress.com)
www.careerteacher.wordpress.com)
1. What this is: The Futures Fair is a hybrid event; not quite a career fair and not quite a college
fair. The format is popular with students and has impact on both faculty and kids.
Exhibitors use our gym and the area outside of our gym for display. Exhibitors include (1)
outside
professionals in their field of work, (2) post secondary programs of study (PoS), not admissions
post-secondary
representatives, reflecting the academic area the professional exhibitors represent and (3)
selected high school seniors presenting their graduation projects. Seniors selected have projects
hool
that reflect the theme of the fair. Exhibitors are mixed throughout the event and the ratio we
strive for is 75-80% professional, 10% PoS and 10% seniors.
80%
Sue Fox, Community-Based Learning Coordinator Hatboro-Horsham School District
Based Coordinator,
sfox@hatboro-horsham.org

2. Futures Fair: “Making It Here” Innovation
and Entrepreneurship
2. How we do it: We have and enjoy a collaborative partnership with our local Chamber of
Commerce (CoC) and Educational Foundation (EF). The partnership is the secret to our success.
Our EF helped recruit professionals representing regional businesses, maintained our website
and processed registrations. They promoted the Futures Fair at all EF functions and dedicated a
keynoter to kick off the theme for the year. They also designed the beautiful logo you see at the
top of this post as well as other graphics and literature concerning the fair.
Our CoC matched their theme for the year to ours. They focused time each month talking to local
business professionals about our project and recruited their support. They also provided tables,
table cloths and other resources needed by the exhibitors as well as a contential breakfast during
set up time and lunch for all including the entire high school faculty and staff.
The school district provided human resources for recruiting post-secondary programs of study,
planning the logistics of the day (with administrators, teachers, cafeteria and transportation
departments and our middle school). We also identified the perfect seniors to present at the fair
as well as recruited student volunteers to “man” various posts i.e. direct traffic, serve food, etc.
We extended invitations to all other school districts in the county (so they could bring their
highly interested students) and our own middle school.
3. Why we do this: To connect our students to their future. When planning our themes, we first
think about high priority professions in our region and our state. We want our kids to understand
what opportunities there will be for them-that they can learn and earn a family sustaining wage
here.
In our area the high priority professions identified by Pennsylvania are healthcare, engineering
and green technologies. Armed with that knowledge our first fair was Green. For our second fair
we chose Making It Here as our working title. We started thinking about what skills allowed
people to “make it here.” And that’s when we realized that the 21st Century Skill we associate
most with success is innovation. Our president tells us that entrepreneurialism is our
nations opportunity for growth and prosperty. For these reasons our second theme became
Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Why include middle school students? Because they are making important career decisions–do I
like math? Should I take science seriously? If the answer is no to either question it could be a
career limiting decision. Students who understand where a subject could take them will do better
in high school.
In all, 2000 students and 250 faculty and staff visited the fair. All were able to talk to individuals
who make a difference in our world and are passionate about what they do. PoS’s explained to
students various ways to prepare for the professions presented. And students taught students that
you don’t have to wait to be an innovator. You can start in high school!
Sue Fox, Community-Based Learning Coordinator, Hatboro-Horsham School District
sfox@hatboro-horsham.org

3. Futures Fair: “Making It Here” Innovation
and Entrepreneurship
To review student created documentary:
Part 1: http://youtu.be/U2fCPUUOVC0
Part 2: http://youtu.be/DL74YLVy-V8
Documentary was produced by the Montgomery County Education & Workforce Partnership.
Additional Futures Fair resources: http://www.hhef.org/events-Futuresfair.html &
http://careerteacher.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/futures-fair-making-it-here-innovation-and-
entrepreneurship/;
Our first Futures Fair was GREEN!
To learn about that fair go to:
www.hatboro-horsham.org/green
Sue Fox, Community-Based Learning Coordinator, Hatboro-Horsham School District
sfox@hatboro-horsham.org