About 120 students from six high schools in Schuylkill County learned about career opportunities at McCann School of Business and Technology while competing against each other at the Pottsville campus’ annual “McCann Madness” event.
Designed to educate high school students about careers available locally, McCann Madness was started at the Pottsville campus in 2005. Students from Mahanoy Area, North Schuylkill, Pottsville, Pine Grove, Williams Valley and Schuylkill Technology Center participated this year.
“It’s a career exploration competition,” Shannon Brennan, campus director, said. “It’s a fun way to learn about career opportunities and about McCann. There has also been a big push recently to educate kids about all the job opportunities available in Schuylkill County.”
Teams from each school participated in 11 different learning stations and are asked questions before going to another station. For each question they answer correctly, they get a star.
The team with the most stars wins. If there’s a tie, like Brennan said there usually is, the teams have a shootout at a basketball hoop behind the school. Some schools had two teams.
Lori Kane, community relations specialist at McCann, said there are new agencies participating in the event, like the Lehigh Valley Health Network that provided a distracted driving simulator for students. Kane said the ability to make safe decisions also has an impact on careers.
Students from the Schuylkill Technology Center won the competition and Mahanoy Area students, who brought along their school mascot, took home the Spirit Award.
Bill Mack, a social studies teacher at STC’s south campus, said it was the first year the school had students at the event. He said 22 students, divided into two teams, were there on Thursday.
“It’s a chance for them to see there is more than STC — there are more opportunities out there,” Mack said. “Plus, they are really competitive.”
“It’s a good experience to learn about a college in our community,” Austin Blackwell, a senior at Mahanoy Area, said.
Blackwell said many students are not aware that there are as many job opportunities available locally.
“I think they need to be taken advantage of more,” he said.