Students, Families Invited to First Annual CJUSD District College and Career Fair

COLTON>> Students of all grade levels and their families are encouraged to attend the First Annual CJUSD College and Career Fair, to be held from 5-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4 at the Gonzales Community Center, 670 Colton Avenue in Colton. This free event is a collaborative effort of the Colton Joint Unified School District and City of Colton with sponsorship from Kaiser Permanente, the law firm of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, OmniTrans, the Alliance for Education and Horace Mann insurance. “We are extremely excited about our First Annual CJUSD College and Career Fair,” said CJUSD Superintendent Jerry Almendarez. “It’s amazing to see the collaboration between our district and community with the focused objective of helping our students to find their own best path to success. This truly is a wonderful example of collective impact.” Colton Mayor Richard DeLaRosa said many career opportunities exist in the Inland Empire due to growing industry. "Our recent Cradle to Career Resolution shows the city’s commitment with CJUSD and other local agencies," DeLaRosa said. "Our intent is to inspire and guide our future leaders in academic and vocational career paths and encourage them to give back to the community.” The fair will provide students and families a “one-stop shop” where they can meet representatives from four-year colleges and universities, community colleges and technical/trade schools as well as business professionals who will be on hand to discuss a wide variety of career pathways. Nearly 100 educational and business organizations are scheduled to be in attendance. Professionals at the event will include business owners, municipal and county government leaders, lawyers, doctors, nurses, police officers, firefighters, military personnel, building trades professionals and educators. Many of these professionals are part of the district’s Community Cabinet – a group of more than 600 community leaders dedicated to helping students across the district to succeed. Workshops also will be presented to help students with planning for the future. Although the event is primarily geared toward high school students, programming also will be offered for elementary and middle school students to help them start early on their journey toward success. In addition, OmniTrans has donated a limited number of coupons for bus passes to help families without transportation to get to the event. Bus passes are available at all CJUSD middle schools or by calling Jacquie Paul in the CJUSD Communications office at 909-580-6502.