BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — When high school starts, students start thinking about their future and what career they want to go into.
While we see a lot of job fairs for white-collar jobs, there was recently an opportunity in Bowling Green for 700 kids who show interest in blue-collar jobs.
Years ago, the Home Builders Association of Greater Toledo realized the need for construction workers in the area and people struggling to get into the industry.
That's why it created "Build My Future," a construction job fair to help high school kids get familiar with the trades.
"If someone comes here and they don't know what a carpenter does, they don't know what a heating and air person does, this is that opportunity for them to be able to see those hands-on," Eddie Campos, a local realtor and co-chair of Build My Future said.
According to a study by Tech.co, artificial intelligence could replace 14% of white-collar jobs.
So trade experts say fairs like this could provide students with promising possibilities. Bringing high school students from the Toledo and southeast Michigan areas, the event shows students the skills of woodworking, plumbing and welding.
"We're hoping the exposure is going to bring something to light for them. Be able to see where their future could be," Campos said. "There's a lot of kids that are probably here today that just don't know what they want to do. They know the college isn't it, so the military might not be it. So, what am I going to do?"
Students who attended the event said it was also a good way to show the alternatives to working office jobs. The hands-on activities could help in getting them interested in future career opportunities they hadn't considered.
"I think it will help people get an idea of what they enjoy doing, if they like more hands-on stuff because there's a lot of hands-on activities here," Maddie Campbell, a freshman at Elmwood High School said. "So just getting an idea of what you're going to do after high school."
For some students, they need guidance finding what they want to do for a living and finding where they belong.
"For me, I think it's just like seeing what job I really fit into, what job I can have fun doing when I'm older," Ben Takats, a sophomore at Perrysburg High School said. "So it's more of just seeing what I really fit into."
The Build My Future event had over double the number of students attending from last year's, which was around 300 students.
The HBA of Greater Toledo recommends schools interested in letting students visit to reach out ahead of next year's event.