Oregon Governor, Kate Brown, was a special guest speaker at the PWA (Portland Workforce Alliance) NW Careers Expo 2015 breakfast this year, along with Portland Mayor, Charlie Hayes, Portland Public School Superintendent, Carole Smith and Elemental Technologies CEO, Sam Blackman. Around 130 employers, and over 5,000 high-schoolers from all over the state attended the expo . The students were able to talk directly to employers about career options, ask advice on paths to take toward their dream jobs, try hands-on applications and participate in mock interviews. This year, under the Oregon Film banner, we had several companies volunteering their time to represent a broad range of industry job options. Animation company, HouseSpecial brought samples of their work and talked with many interested students; Koerner Camera had several cameras running with Michael Koerner fielding questions; video game developer SuperGenius was on hand showing students the possibilities of working in the exciting gaming world; and SPFX make-up artist, Christina Kortum, Ravenous Studios, (“Grimm”) brought several prosthetics and her make-up kit, much to the delight of the students. Many of the high-schoolers were surprised at the array of the industry job possibilities right here in Oregon.
The NW Career Expo is one of the “premiere business – education partnerships in the Pacific Northwest” and we were happy to be a part of it. We look forward to welcoming this new generation of skilled production workers in film and media jobs in years to come!
We were honored to be invited and to share a table with some great Oregon businesses.