Forget football games or pop concerts. If you want to get thousands of young people in one place and excited, show them their future.

That’s exactly what happened at the Worlds Of Opportunity [WOO] Career Expo, held Sept. 24-25 at the Mobile Civic Center in Mobile.

This was no ordinary jobs fair. Nearly 10,000 middle school students filled the cavernous arena, visiting 12 interactive “worlds” representing career paths they could embark on. From safety to shipbuilding, energy to engineering, healthcare to hospitality, and aerospace to automotive technology, there was literally something for everyone.

“I liked the flight simulators and the oil rigs. I also liked the robotics a lot,” said Nick Smith, a ninth-grader at Brookwood High School in Tuscaloosa.

“The car over there is pretty sweet. I’ve never seen one of those,” said Hannah Vickery, an eighth-grader at Perdido Elementary-Middle School, referring to the Tesla Roadster electric car at the Alabama Power station.

It was a pep rally atmosphere as the students, dressed in brightly colored T-shirts marking their schools, were invited to pedal, run, hammer, aim, hoist and climb on the various exhibits.

“It’s helping me figure out a career by giving you the experience of the career,” said Mason O’Rourke, an eighth-grader at Semmes Middle School.

Underlying the fun was a serious purpose: to introduce young people to the industries hungry to hire skilled workers today.

“We have lots of jobs that are going unfilled in these high-trade fields,” said Sam Covert, Mobile Division area manager for Alabama Power. “What are we doing to let kids know about these jobs? This is really a career awareness fair,” he added.

Now in its fifth year, Worlds Of Opportunity is managed by the Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council [SAWDC]. More than 160 sponsors, partners and exhibitors, including Alabama Power, participated. Hundreds of volunteers, parents and teachers kept things running smoothly.

Co-founder Judy Graham, recently retired from Alabama Power, said the event’s success has won over the doubters.

“The very first year it was tough economically because the construction industry had just taken a dive,” said Graham. “There was a lot of skepticism about whether we could raise the money. This had never been done in the state of Alabama.”

WOO Growing in Popularity

Now, the adults are as excited as the kids. Political and business leaders from across the state were in attendance, eager to replicate the experience locally.

“My arms are wide open for you all to come down so that we can start something in Sumter County like that,” said Drucilla Jackson, a Sumter County commissioner. “I know the kids will enjoy it.”

“As a city council person, we are ecstatic,” said Mobile City Council President Gina Gregory. “Because we are looking for a trained, quality workforce. And that’s what this is all about.”

Worlds Of Opportunity was designed to motivate students to think about careers they might have overlooked. As they visited each world, asking questions, they filled out “passports” with the answers. Games were set up to test problem-solving ability, a key attribute of successful employees. Teachers were shown the skills in highest demand.

“Just passing a class isn’t enough,” said Larry Mouton, executive director of career and technical education for Mobile County Public Schools. “I want business and industry to know we’re actually teaching the skills that they say are important.”

Recuiting Future Employees

Representatives from trade and technical schools were also on hand, eager to recruit future graduates. Covert noted that 80 percent of the jobs at Alabama Power Company do not require a four-year baccalaureate degree. But, as with other industries, they do call for skilled workers.

“We’ve got 400 jobs over at Austal shipbuilding [in Mobile] right now,” said Covert. “If we had 400 qualified people show up, they’d hire 400 tomorrow.” Unions also were represented at WOO. “All the locals are looking for welders to fill their job call needs,” said Norman Richerson, apprenticeship coordinator of the Ironworkers Local 798. “It is a higher skill level. We’re trying to plant the seed in eighth-graders of what the different types of jobs are.”

The students will not soon forget the eye-popping exhibits, including a 28-foot long Digger Derrick Truck (lifting capacity: 27,000 lbs.), a lineman on an actual telephone pole, and a mini-TV studio with a green screen for budding young newscasters and weather forecasters.

One of the most popular was the “Green Machine,” built by Alabama Power’s own Roger Pettis, a maintenance specialist at Plant Barry. It’s a bicycle-powered 300-watt generator that turns on lights, sirens and a bubble-maker. As each feature is switched on, the pedaling gets harder.

“If we had to ride that bike to watch TV, we’d all be a lot skinnier or a lot smarter, because we’d all read books,” said Pettis. “It shows the kids that energy doesn’t just appear; you have to use some type of fuel.”

In other words, a little hard work and planning now can produce worlds of opportunity tomorrow.