W.S. Neal and Brewton middle school students were among the 9,000 eighth-graders, teachers, school administrators, parents and industry leaders who attended the first Worlds of Opportunity career expo Sept. 29-30 in Mobile.

The purpose of the Expo was to create awareness about career options among students and educators while addressing workforce needs in the region.

The career expo, a project of the Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council was an educational, hands-on opportunity for students to become familiar with a broad overview of jobs available in the area.

Attendance to the expo was available to students from an eight county workforce development region which includes Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe, and Washington counties.

Business and industry leaders, workforce development and career center representatives, along with school representatives collaborated and partnered in order to introduce this event to our region.

“We at SAWDC were not so interested in every child picking a career at the Expo,” said Al Etheridge, Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Field Director. “Our goal was to expose all eighth graders in southwest Alabama to as many careers as we could. Our hope is that in the near future when someone at school asks these students to pick a career they will use what they learned from The Worlds of Opportunity Expo to help them make informed and educated decisions.”