Editors Note: Student Stories is a project designed to showcase stories, events, clubs, and opinions authored by students in Santa Cruz County. This is offered through our Lookout in the Classroom program where students receive free access to all of our content as well as workshops and curriculum for local educators. Learn more here.

As an intern at Your Future Is Our Business (YFIOB), I am able to see firsthand the time and effort that goes into helping students across Santa Cruz County explore career paths and opportunities including ones that don’t necessarily require a college degree. One of the highlights of my internship with YFIOB is the Health Career Expo. 

The Health Career Expo is hosted at Cabrillo College, lasts half the day and hosts around 30 vendors focusing on different health careers such as pathology, physiology, and medical and dental assistant. The hope is that students could network with these vendors and explore possible career paths. YFIOB believes that exposure is extremely important and by hearing from someone in a career that they haven’t been able to explore yet can open up new paths for their futures. Students are encouraged to ask questions and network as it is an important skill to have in the professional world.   

Over 190 high school students attended the event last year. Seeing these students so joyful and excited at the prospect of getting to speak with these professionals was inspiring and made all the hard work that went into the event feel worth it. This Health Career Expo was first launched in 2023 as a test run and it went so well that YFIOB and Cabrillo College decided to make the event an annual occurrence. I am looking forward to this event again this year, coming up on November 14 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. You can learn more about and register for the event here. 

Getting to work with YFIOB, an organization that cares so much about helping students prepare for life after high school was amazing. Whether it’s a large exposition or a small classroom visit and talk, the goal remains the same: give students the chance to learn, ask questions, and feel more confident in their futures.

Cathy Romero is a student at UC Santa Cruz and an intern at YFIOB