Hundreds of Big Bend area high school students were checking out career possibilities on Friday, April 17 during the Leon Works Expo. Some students were trying their hand at bricklaying at David Langston's Masonry, Incorporated booth.
"You can make an excellent living at this. It is hard work, it is kind of a dirty job. But driving around town, I can just point out building after building that I've worked on over the last 30-40 years. And it's something to be proud of. You can always go by. It's going to be standing a long time."
Harvesting oysters along Florida's Big Bend coast used to be a job people were mostly born into. But the advent of widespread oyster farming has opened the field up to everyone. Cainnon Gregg, founder of Pelican Oyster Company, had an oyster farm display at the Leon Works Expo. He was amazed by the number of high school students who didn't know the region's seafood history.
"I guess people don't realize that just 30 miles south of Tallahassee is becoming the Napa Valley of oysters in the south. It's interesting. More than anything we're educating these kids that this is a career you can have in your backyard."
Dozens of other public and private sector employers set up shop in the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center's exhibit hall and parking lot to give the students from Leon and surrounding counties a feel for all kinds of career paths.
