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‘I really like the hands-on stuff’: Mon students consider careers at expo

MORGANTOWN - From cookie dough to cardiac arrest, Aaliyah Conley had a pretty full morning Friday at South Middle School.

"Yeah, I really like the hands-on stuff," said the seventh-grader at the school on East Parkway Drive.

Hands-on, it was.

Aaliyah was among scores of middle-schoolers from across the county who explored their options at the 2026 edition of the Career Expo, which is staged annually by the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative.

From its headquarters at West Virginia University, the collaborative fans out across the state in the mission of intellectual outreach, while keeping the cause locally at home, also.

This morning was all about career exploration.

Students got looks into the medical field, the military, cybersecurity, the culinary arts, esports and more.

It was a chance to wiggle into Kevlar gear while also learning more about the intricacies of navigating today's digital landscape.

Erica Skorlinski was helping lots of high-tech sojourners related to the latter.

Skorlinski is an educator with the West Virginia Technical Assistance Center for Science, Technology, Engineering Arts and Mathematics - STEAM TAC, for short - also housed at WVU.

She was staffing the cybersecurity table at the expo. The frontline cybersecurity table at the expo.

That's because Skorlinski was working through phishing and other scams out there - schooling on the students on what to look for, and why strong passwords are a must.

"They can go home and tell their moms and dads," she said. "And their grandparents. Especially their grandparents."

That's all the while exploring all those career options. Skorlinski did her share of academic exploring enroute to WVU.

After earning a degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin, she did wildlife field work projects across the U.S. for nonprofit and governmental organizations.

She pivoted later into robotics and high-tech.

"That's all part of the fun and discovery of it," she said.

Aaliyah, meanwhile, was exploring the delicious fun of cookie dough and the food truck that's operated by the local school district's Technical Education Center - so local, in fact, that it's just two parking lots over from South.

"I enjoyed that," she said. "I like being in the kitchen."

After that, she lit out for the displays and tables hosted by WVU Medicine.

There were the technicians showing how to do blood draws and other vital particulars of patient care.

And the medical mannequins, depicting everything from heart attacks to dementia.

No exploring for Aaliyah on this day.

She's planning on a career in medicine as a nurse practitioner.

"I've wanted to do this since I was 8 years old," she said.