Excited to engage with potential employers and dressed for success, with resumes in hand, several DeSoto High School students participated in the DHS Student Job Fair sponsored by the district’s Career Technical Education and Student Support Services departments this spring.
This event was designed for district teens to get their first touch in a targeted environment to land that first job, internship, or job training opportunity.
Some of the companies in attendance included corporate employers such as:
- Walmart Supply Chain Logistics
- Planet Lincoln
- Firestone
- Krogers
- Luby’s
- Waffle House
- Wingstop
- Chik-Fil-A
- Keller Williams Realty
- Urban DFW
- Credit Union of Texas
- Two Sisters Creations
- E J Smith Construction, LLC
- The Learning Paradigm
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Students interested in shorter-term employment options like internships or summer camp work spoke with companies like HAKing Innovation and the City of DeSoto.
DHS Sophomore Makayla Anderson was elated at the end of the night, while walking to the door with a collection of hiring flyers in her hand, she shared the gold mine she found at the fair.
“I came tonight because I needed to get out of my shell, be more social and get a job working with other kids because this is what makes me happy,” said Anderson smiling immensely. “I found a job! I will be an intern at a summer camp. It is only for four weeks and I will make some money and do what I wanted to do and that is to help kids!”
Much like Anderson was enthusiastic about her newfound opportunity, Megan Dennis and her team from Planet Lincoln Love Field, the largest Lincoln dealer in the world, were ecstatic about meeting more DeSoto High School students and reconnecting with potential interns and employees they previously met during an onsite tour of their business operations.
“The general managing partner of our company is a DeSoto alumnus so this program is very near and dear to his heart. We work with students in the high school’s automotive program. They have come to the dealership for a tour so it is great to get to meet the students here and to talk to them about their future as we help them find something that they are interested in,” said Dennis. “Getting that first foot in the door is everything and events like these set students up for success. Everyone looks the same on paper but when you get to meet them in person and see them light up you get to see their personality.”
For those students interested in business and finance, two real estate professionals from Keller Williams Urban Dallas Realty, Zay Mixon and Tamera Nalls, were onsite showing students a simple route to a viable career path that can also translate to creating generational wealth.
“I am an educator, an author, and an aggressive entrepreneur with college degrees and a real estate license, and helping high school-age students is my passion. If I can get this information to them, I know it can change their life because I know what it did for me. Not all students are wanting to go to college or can even think about college because of other real-life needs that they are facing. I think that real estate can be a solution for these students.”
Both Mixon and Nalls agreed that early exposure to the impact of real estate is beneficial.
“We are teaching students at a younger age a different avenue to build wealth. A student or a parent can buy a condo and lease out the rooms while the student is in college and the rooms will pay for the condo and the student can live for free. There are just so many benefits to selling real estate. We are giving them options,” said Nalls.
Some students came on their own and others arrived with their parents near to help them navigate this opportunity to begin their career journey.
DeSoto ISD parent Erica Johnson, I brought my sons because they need a job. I wanted them to get the experience of a job fair and looking for a job, interviewing, obtaining information, and learning about the qualifications needed to help prepare them so they will know what to do when they get to college,” she said. “I feel like this was a good experience. They had a lot of different options, experiences, trades, and internships for the students to join and help better themselves for the future. This was well put together for the students.”
Other entities and agencies onsite included long-time district partners, Methodist Hospitals and Texas Workforce Solutions, the United Way of Metropolitian Dallas, and the Dental Genius Assistance training program.
The DeSoto ISD Career and Technical Education program is committed to fulfilling the district mission of allowing students to achieve their highest levels and the district’s board to ensure that students are future-ready before they leave DeSoto ISD.
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Learn more about the DeSoto ISD Career and Technical Programs at www.DeSotoISD.org.