The Lancaster High School Career Tech programs hosted a career fair for hundreds of students. The career fair included over sixty employers ranging from employers, colleges, military partners, LHS career tech programs, and the Fairfield County Workforce center. LHS offers many ways to students to help them prepare for what’s next after high school. Caroline Davis LHS career tech director said that there’s a lot of things the students can be doing to get ready.
“Freshman or sophomores, they need to be looking at doing a career tech program their junior or senior year. They need to be doing some simple internet research. We have the 12 Career Tech Programs at LHS they can choose from. We’ve got electives the freshmen and sophomore can take advantage of. We also have options for seniors, second semester, to do a pre-apprenticeship at the workforce center,” said Davis.
John Sheridan, the Career Pathways Coach, said that students can learn about the Fairfield County Workforce Center at the career fair. It is an educational option open to LHS seniors.
“They have electrical, construction, carpentry, wastewater, plumbing, HVAC and phlebotomy. So there’s seven different programs that students can go into just to get an idea of what they can go into but they also do discovery days where students can go visit the workforce center and see the different programs before they actually try to apply to it as well. It’s a really good option for students to go into it, mainly for students that they’re interested in going straight to work right after they are done with high school,” he said.
Eye of the Gale interviewed a few of the employers, colleges, and students to discover the career opportunities for students.
LHS junior marketing student Calea Hayes said she was interested in learning more about how to enter a professional career after high school.
“I’m attending the career fair, so I can find some job shadowing and internship opportunities and so I can grow my networking and start off on the ground running,” she said.
“I’ve learned that there are a lot of opportunities within businesses, there’s a lot of different parts to them as well. A company like construction, they have different financial boards. There’s a lot of different aspects to each company. Each place has a little something to offer for everybody,” said Hayes.
LHS freshman Carter Carlisle is interested in pursuing a career that’s hands-on and interacts with people.
“I’m attending the career fair because I don’t know what I want to do after high school. I also learned a lot of stuff about the Marines. They do a lot of stuff in aviation and infantry. I learned Ohio University has a good business program,” he said.
Jonathan Breyers, a Chick Fil A representative who participated in the career fair and said the company was there to speak with students who may want a future with them.
“I am here today because we are looking to hire new team members who are dedicated to the company and ready to work. We also want to grow Chick Fil A of Lancaster as a franchise,” said Breyers.
A representative from Company Gutridge said they attended the career fair to publicize their company.
“We are here to promote what we do and various career opportunities that we offer at Gutridge. We are looking for people that are eager, wanting to learn, looking forward to developing themselves and growing as individuals, reliable, and able to show up,” they said.
Jarret Johnson, an outreach coordinator with THK Manufacturing, said their company is interested in promoting interest in their field.
“We have a department where we’ll go to local schools and talk about manufacturing and SEM and just kind of show students kind of how the manufacturing industry works and if it’s a good fit for them,” said Johnson.
Johnson also said he thinks it’s very beneficial if students attended career fairs to help students get a grasp on what is meant for them and what’s not.
“ I think it’s very important because I think there’s a lot of pressure for students to know exactly what career they want to go into pretty early. I think being able to just experience all these different industries, different organizations, kind of helps them figure out what they like and what they don’t like,” he said.
Below is a photo gallery of the 2026 LHS Career Fair.
