UND again shines at Northern Valley Career Expo

More than 2,000 high school students attend Grand Forks event to learn about career, educational opportunities

More than 2,100 high school students from around the region descended on Grand Forks to get a glimpse into the local job and educational landscape in late October, and UND was on hand at the annual Northern Valley Career Expo to help them out.

The Expo, now in its 14th year and held at the Alerus Center, is meant to help high school students in northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota explore educational and workforce opportunities in the region. At the Expo, students have the chance to meet with representatives of dozens of local businesses, as well as administrators in higher education, very much including UND.

“The University of North Dakota has a large presence at the event, exhibiting on the Expo floor with representation from a variety of programs,” said Jennifer Aamodt, director of UND Admissions, who also sits on the Expo’s planning committee. “UND staff also play an integral role in speaking at the breakout sessions on their areas of expertise and volunteering at the event to ensure things run smoothly.”

And those breakout sessions – sessions in which students can speak with faculty members and local business leaders – run the gamut from small-group discussions about accounting and aviation to nursing and cybersecurity.

On the Expo floor, students can visit numerous booths, and speak with the professionals there about a career in that field, be it construction or manufacturing, or the educational requirement of areas such as forensic science or engineering.

“The Expo is definitely helping me find out more about things, like different careers that I could go into, and colleges that would fit,” said Paizley Moe, a sophomore from Grygla, Minn.

Visiting the UND Nursing booth was another sophomore: Sydney Fetsch, a native of Thompson, N.D. Fetsch also said the Expo was useful for her in exploring options in her area of interest.

“I definitely want to do something in the medical field, so going around and looking at all the medical information helps me,” she said.

Working on the other side of a UND general-information booth was Sarah Glimsdahl, assistant director of application processing, who was helping students sign up for information packets from different colleges and departments.

For Glimsdahl, that’s what the Expo is about: helping guide students to suitable programs.

“This information will get them to come on in and check out what they think they may want to do, or help them change their mind,” Glimsdahl said.

Back this year after a short hiatus was the Drone Zone, staffed by representatives from UND’s Research Institute for Autonomous Systems (RIAS). Members there had set up a cage to give students the hands-on opportunity to pilot a pair of small drones—and thereby whet their appetites for careers in the ever-expanding field of uncrewed aircraft systems.

“We’re trying to advocate for the major and minor for UAS, and then RIAS, and the research and autonomous system fields,” said Dan Myles, UAS lead flight instructor at UND.

The Drone Zone, he said, was also about having a little fun.

“It’s fun because we talk about toys,” Myles said.