By Ania Felder
Special Writer
On April 23, Belleville High School hosted the district’s third-annual Community Career Day from 8 to 10 a.m.
The Career Day is a fair held in the BHS Commons during the spring of the school year. This is where a large number of employees and employers, including local business entrepreneurs, police officers, firefighters, healthcare workers, and others – attend as vendors.
The visitors speak with BHS juniors and seniors who are interested in joining their career field after they get out of high school. Other students are unsure about their plans and are seeking guidance from adults in different career fields to find a possible option to commit to after they graduate.
The goal of the career fair is to offer students some career readiness by learning what skills and passions they have while they are still attending high school, then finding a way to transform that into a future career.
The high school began hosting the Career Fair in 2023, and since then it has expanded with more students and more vendors attending.
New vendors this year included University of Michigan Health Care and Ford Rawsonville Components Plant. Other businesses present were Blooms and Balloons, David C. Brown Funeral Home, Angel Food Catering, and the Krumm Agency, Meemic Insurance.
Caterer Tyler Maffesoil of Angel Food Catering described their business as “the heart of Belleville.”
“We do weddings, memorials, graduations. Anything that you would need food for we have it.” Maffesoil said, explaining his day-to-day career.
Other businesses were willing to pass on advice to students who wish to become entrepreneurs. Former Van Buren Public Schools teacher of 29 years and now Memic Insurance owner Ernie Krumm gave his advise to students.
“Being your own boss and an entrepreneur, you have to be a self-starter and self-motivated,” he said. “You have to always remember when you work for yourself, who are you? Are you the person who’s going to show up and work hard? Are you the person who’s going to show up and work the extra hours? Because no one else is going to do it for you. You have to be the right kind of person.”
TAYION Fashion Collection owner Montee Tayion Holand advised students, “All successful businesses, no matter what they are have a few things in common. One, you have to be disciplined. Two, you have to sacrifice. Three, you have to be extremely motivated. You have to get up, go to work everyday, and be enthusiastic about that work. Because people can tell conviction.”
A few upperclassmen were also willing to speak on their decision to attend this year’s Career Day. Senior Demetrice Brantley, who plans on majoring in business and marking after graduation, said, “I attended today’s career day just to network with people and just to get my name out there.”
After the fair wrapped up, BHS Principal Nicole Crockett hosted a lunch for all the vendors and volunteers. At that event, she announced the school’s new Alumni Registry.
This is a new group intended for BHS graduates to join in hopes they can come back to events such as the Community Career Day to help guide future leaders on the right path.
Crockett said next year she hopes even more businesses and career fields will participate.
Special writer Ania Felder of Van Buren Township also reported on the event on her podcast NewsWithNia.