The Kenai Chamber of Commerce held their 2020 job shadow luncheon on Wednesday at Kenai Christian Church for Kenai Central High School juniors looking to explore the wide variety of careers that the peninsula has to offer.
Around 100 students attended the luncheon and they were placed in 44 host businesses for a shadowing experience. Students were allowed to not only select a first-choice job to explore, but also were able to select second and third choice jobs, with each student being placed in one of their top three selections.
Johna Beech of the Kenai Chamber of Commerce, on the significance of this program as it completes its 26th year: “We’re very lucky to have this program here in Kenai. We’re the only school chamber in the state, and nationwide, that does this program. So, with us, with Kenai Central High School, and job services, we’re able to make this happen for our students.”
Ms. Beech also discussed the variety of jobs that students were interested in exploring this year, with some surprising new trends: “We had a lot of trades this year, which was pretty cool! In years-past, we’ve had a lot of secondary education-required shadows, but this year we had four welders, five or six EMS / fire department, four or five police officers, and so it was really neat to see that shift. Typically, Central Peninsula Hospital will host the majority of our students, and we only had 17 going to them. So, it’s definitely a shift from previous years which is pretty awesome because I think the trades get overlooked a lot.”
The students that participated made up the entire junior class of Kenai Central High School.