Ferncourt High Students Explore Future Pathways At College Fair

Students at the Ferncourt High School in St. Ann who are preparing for life after graduation have been equipped to pursue career and educational pathways.

At a recent college fair held at the school grounds in Claremont, students were able to explore various options as they moved from booth to booth, engaging with representatives of tertiary and training institutions, agencies, and professionals in several fields.

Among the exhibitors were the University of the West Indies (UWI), University of Technology (UTech), Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, Jamaica 4-H Clubs, Jamaica Information Service (JIS), among others.

For many students, the day was an opportunity for learning beyond the classroom, a practical extension of the school’s motto, Labor Vincit, or ‘Hard Work Conquers’.

Grade-11 student Cindia McFarlane told JIS News that the experience opened her eyes to possibilities she had only begun to consider.

“It’s very fun. I got to experience all the career options and to interact, ask questions and get very good answers,” she said.

Cindia spent time at the JIS booth, where she learned more about media production and communications.

“I learned about the cameras, the career paths – just a very good interaction,” she said of the exposure, which reinforced her interest in creative work, particularly photography and graphic design.

Her advice to other students uncertain about their future was simple. “Just go for what you want. Chase your dreams, and don’t let nobody tell you that you can’t do this and you can’t do that; just believe in yourself,” she said.

Matthew Craille, a grade-11 student and vice-president of the school’s student council, said the fair helped him see how personal interests could translate into professional opportunities.

“I found it to be very informative, learning new things, new careers and learning how I can advance and pull myself forward to actually achieve my goals,” he said.

Photography had always been an interest as a leisure activity, but conversations at the fair opened his eye to the possibility of a career in the field.

“I’m realising that I could actually go on to become a part of the team at the Jamaica Information Service,” he said.

Craille encouraged his fellow students to make the most of the opportunity to explore different options but to “pick a career that they enjoy, that they can work with and that they can be happy with in the future”.

Principal Sheldon Thomas told JIS News that the College Fair formed part of the school’s wider effort to guide students as they begin to think seriously about their future.

“The feedback I received is that the students enjoyed it, meeting persons at the various booths, engaging in the panel discussions and the different interactions with various entities,” he said.

Through its guidance counselling programme, the school aims to give students exposure to different professions and the educational paths required to pursue them.

“As an institution, we believe in preparing students for the future. We believe in putting in programmes… to ensure that students are exposed to the different careers, and that will help them to be able to identify the subjects [required] and what to do after high school,” Mr. Thomas said.

“We believe in giving exposure to as many areas as best as possible, so we are moving away from just the traditional careers and focusing on other areas that we realise our students have an interest in,” he added.

His advice to students is to use the opportunity to explore and learn so that they will be able to make wise choices.

“What we are doing is giving them a sensitisation to the different careers and, hopefully, when it is time to make the choice they will be aware and be able to do further research,” he said.

Mr. Thomas also noted the value of bringing back former students to share their experiences.

“We want the students to see that these [former students] would have come through the same school and they are doing well and to be able to use that as a motivating factor to see that they, too, can one day return to share with the younger students or to see that if they can do it, I can do it too,” he added.