Career Ed. program kicks off fourth year

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Students, parents, and business partners attended a kick-off for the fourth year of the Career Education Opportunity (CEO) program at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio.

Kerry Koontz, who developed and administers the program, welcomed those attending Wednesday’s event, and talked about the growth of the program, which grew from 17 students and 13 business partners in the first year to 56 students and 32 business partners in Year 3 of the program.

This year, 67 seniors from Van Wert, Crestview, and Lincolnview high schools and 44 business partners have signed up to participate in the program, while Vantage Career Center, whose students have had career education for decades, provides services for the program.

In addition to Koontz, Van Wert Health President/CEO Jim Pope spoke to students and parents about the benefits of the CEO program, which provides students with hands-on internships in a number of career fields, including health care, manufacturing, education, and many others.

Pope, who was originally going to be a doctor, said he found the hard way that his career choice wasn’t a practical one for him.

“One of the things I learned when I started working in health care is that I love health care and I wanted to stay working in health care, but I realized I wasn’t going to be a good doctor,” he said.

Pope switched his major from medicine to administration and has spent the past 45 years working on the business side of healthcare.

Noting that he would have loved to have a similar program when he was young, the hospital CEO said the program was a win-win situation, since it not only allows students to find out what they want to do, but also what they don’t want to do.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person today will change careers 5-7 times during their working life and have 12-15 different jobs during that time. Those are numbers Koontz said continue to increase.

The CEO program coordinator also provided county statistics showing that, while the county’s population is decreasing, jobs opportunities are growing. That information, coupled with the fact that 5,300 county residents are age 65 or older, means that today’s students have nearly unlimited potential for finding a good-paying job they like without leaving home.

The CEO program assists those efforts by providing students with paid or unpaid internships that allow them to find jobs they like, while also finding out what careers don’t interest them.