Montrose Regional Library will be hosting virtual teen career expositions beginning Wednesday, September 23 to provide Montrose teens with opportunities to explore different career paths and speak with industry professionals. The meetings are held via Zoom and open to anyone ages 11-17. 

“The idea behind it is just to give an overview of different paths one’s life could take and open people up to new ideas for careers they might not have imagined before,” Amy Dickinson, Teen Services Librarian and event’s organizer, said. “Or, if it’s something that already interests someone and they think they might be interested in that career, people who have already done it can give some tips about things that might be helpful when you’re a teenager as you’re preparing to follow that career path.”

In attendance for the first installment of the career exposition series were six local teenagers. One of the attendees was Nathan Mathieu, a senior at Peak Virtual Academy and member of the library’s Teen Advisory Board.

“In one of our weekly meetings we decided to create a Teen Career Expo. So, Amy Dickinson, the head of the teen services at the library (who also runs TAB), dug around for somebody whom we could interview,” Matheieu said. “I enjoy making film as a hobby and wanted to see how makeup might play into filming/making movies or shows.”

The first industry professional to present was Katie Mellinger, an NYC-based Fashion and Celebrity Makeup Artist, on Wednesday, September 23. 

“I also think it’s important to communicate to younger people different career trajectories other than what might be considered “normal,” and makeup artistry is not a traditional field of work. Hopefully this event will shed light on how to get into different types of careers,” Mellinger said.

Future installments of the series will include Andrew Michael Roberts, a poet and cardiac nurse, on October 22 at 5pm, RaeAnne Hadley, a working genre writer whose books include YA speculative fiction, on November 12 at 4pm, and a video game development team sometime in December. Email Amy Dickinson at [email protected] to sign up for reminders and announcements and visit http://www.montroselibrary.org for upcoming events.