More than 1,100 students from nine high schools in the New River Valley attended the Career Pathways Consortium Career Day at New River Community College this week.

Career Day gave 10th grade students the opportunity to learn about different careers through presentations given by local professionals. The presentation sessions covered topics ranging from cyber security to performing arts and architecture to social work.

There were 23 different career sessions offered for the students, where the speakers covered topics such as the different types of jobs in their fields, what education is required for those jobs and what they enjoy most about their jobs. Students chose in advance two sessions to attend.

This year, 28 business and industry professionals volunteered their time to speak to students.

The career sessions were comprised of the following businesses: Army National Guard, Blacksburg Parks & Recreation, Celanese, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM), Giles County Extension Office, Harvey’s GM, Joeloe Productions LLC, LewisGale Montgomery, LewisGale Pulaski HCA, New River Community College, New River Valley Community Services, OWPR Architects, Paymentus, Pulaski County High School, Radford City Public Schools, Radford Commonwealth Attorney, Radford Police Department, Radford University, TechLabs, Tipton Ridge Veterinary Clinic, University Physical Therapy in Radford, Virginia Tech Division of Student Affairs IT and WDBJ7.

This year, students and faculty from the Pulaski County High School TV/video production program attended to film portions of the event.

Virginia’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Steven R. Staples was in attendance on Tuesday. While on campus, Staples toured the event and met with NRCC administrators.

Now in its 11th year, the event is organized by the Career Pathways Consortium. This group is comprised of Career and Technical Education directors from the Floyd County, Giles County, Montgomery County, Pulaski County and Radford City school systems, the deputy director of the New River/Mount Rogers Workforce Investment Area and several representatives from NRCC.

— Submitted by Kelly Kaiser