Students enjoying the Pleasant Hill Trades Fair.
In January 2023, Pleasant Hill FFA advisors AJ Wingard and Tyler Burgin were ready to trade uncertainty for opportunity.
After several years of talking to seniors, they learned that most didn’t have any idea what they wanted to do but knew they didn’t want to go to college. The two agreed to have a Trades Fair to expose students to opportunities available in unions and trade schools. According to College Evaluator, “3,640 students have enrolled in trade schools in Missouri [in 2024].”
Once the decision was made to have a fair, Pleasant Hill FFA started searching for unions and trade schools in the Kansas City area. They started by making phone calls and sending emails. Then, they invited businesses to contact them if they were interested. After contacting vendors and setting up the event, the next step was sending out invites.
“We invited all the surrounding high schools in the area, both large and small,” Wingard says. “We sent out information to all the counselors in the area and posted it on our social media. The response was overwhelming.”
The Trades Fair averages 25 vendors each year. Some vendors include the Missouri Welding Institute, MFA Inc., Builders & Contractors Heart of America, and the Central Missouri Police Academy. It is held during the last half of the school day, is open to all grade levels and is kept open after school for students from the surrounding areas.
When asked how the fair helped them decide on their future, one student in Wingard’s class summed up the participants’ experience. “We get exposure to a variety of trade options and how we can interact with them. We’ve learned about the demand for jobs in the trades and the benefits they give.”
Without the fair, most students wouldn’t have the opportunity or exposure to these trades. Each year, vendors and students eagerly return to the Trades Fair, motivated by the valuable connections and opportunities it presents.
After the first year was a success, Pleasant Hill FFA decided to make its Trades Fair an annual tradition and host the event each January. It all started with one simple question posed to their senior students: “What do you want to do after graduation?”
