Portland Workforce Alliance opens doors for students at the NW Youth Careers Expo

Published 4:34 pm Wednesday, March 26, 2025

At the Portland Workforce Alliance’s NW Youth Careers Expo, students could repel from an electrical maintenance truck, climb inside a police car or operate a camera with the Oregon Film Office.

Students from as far south as Grant County in southern Oregon and as far north as Seattle made their way to the Oregon Convention Center on Wednesday, March 19.

Beyond the convention center’s massive lobby, in the expo room, 102 exhibitors organized by industry talked with students about the seemingly endless number of possibilities ahead of them.

“It’s not just a field trip; we want to make sure students walk out inspired,” said PWA partnership director Carlos Sánchez Huizar. “It takes a village to make things happen and so we’re just part of the collective. A lot of work happens at the schools, with coordinators, teachers, their parents. It does take a community.”

Many of Oregon’s community colleges and public universities were represented at the expo, talking to high schoolers based on the different industry areas of their programs. For example, Clackamas Community College had student representatives talking about working as an emergency room nurse and wildland firefighting.

Along the row of technology exhibitors, an orb-shaped Intel robot rolled from student to student, while a robot police dog galloped back and forth near the law enforcement booths.

“Something that I benefited from in high school was career and technical education, so I was already in an engineering program through an interest in understanding how things are made,” said Nico Barromeo, from Made in Old Town. “Now I’m here in the footwear world, applying that to inform decisions on how a piece of footwear should be made.”

Made in Old Town was one of many locally founded businesses in the media and design industries area. Others included Laika Animation, Widen + Kennedy, the Oregonian and the Oregon Film Office.

Off of the main lobby were rooms with guest speakers and an entire area dedicated to job interview coaching.

“Everyone I’ve talked to has just been a delight,” said Abby Murray Vachon, one of the professional interview mentors. “I think understanding that it’s okay to be nervous, most of the time people are shocked that it’s OK to be nervous.”

Many of the schools in attendance brought large student groups, usually associated with a school’s career and technical education programming.

Some exhibitors, like Maletis Beverage, were especially popular because a free soda came with a pamphlet about transportation careers in delivery.

Another popular area was the military industry, with local outposts like the Air National Guard represented, and constant pull-up contests between friends and classmates always drew a crowd.

“I’m going to remember all of the people and the robot dog,” said Kai Mosen from Mt. Scott Learning Center. “There were just a lot of careers that I didn’t even know were a thing and that was really interesting.”