Job Extravaganza introduces career opportunities to Jackson County students

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WLOX) - The Job Extravaganza at the Jackson County Exceptional School showed dozens of students what their futures could look like on Thursday.

Disability advocacy groups The ARC and the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services partnered for the event.

Those organizations focus on services for individuals with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.

“One of their particular programs is geared towards students in high school that are from age 14-21 and that’s what this job extravaganza is about,” says Kim Duffy, Executive Director of the Singing River ARC Chapter.

17 local businesses set up interactive demonstrations that resembled on-the-job skills.

And it’s true - you’re never too young to learn how to save money.

“What we’re doing is teaching kids to open up a savings account and we’re teaching them how to properly close it up and also we’re teaching them how to count the exact amount of change,” says security for Keesler Federal Credit Union, Xavier Williams.

Students learned how to fold pizza boxes, clean a pool, pot soil, and got to practice a shirt folding mechanism as seen in retail.

Duffy says there is value in all of those hands-on experiences.

“It does a couple of things, it introduces the business community to our students, so they see the value and know they have something to contribute. And then it also introduces our students to businesses and opens their mind to things that they could do that maybe they haven’t thought of in the past.”

There will be another job extravaganza at the Jackson County Exceptional School in the spring.

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