Students from the Red River Valley, Border Land, and Western School Divisions learned more about the broad range of career choices in today's world.

World Of Choices is an event aimed to help 400 Grade 9 students explore jobs from over 40 local career mentors. The day was a joint initiative by Junior Achievement of Manitoba (JAMB) and Red River Technical Vocational Area.

"Our mandate is to teach kids about financial literacy, career choices, leadership, and entrepreneurship," said Greg Leipsic, President and CEO of JAMB.

The event took place at Altona's Millennium Exhibition Center.

(left to right) Ahmad from W.C. Miller Collegiate, Melissa from W.C. Miller Collegiate, and Luke from Shevchenko School"The importance is just to open their minds to other opportunities," said Leipsic, adding he wants students to learn about jobs they may never have thought about.

"There are so many countless opportunities and different trade schools and community colleges," he said.

Speakers also touched on the fact that looking for employment has changed over time. Rather than picking one company or career, people are acquiring a skill set first, which can be applied to multiple areas. The variety of jobs has also changed.

"There are some really different opportunities that adults probably never ever saw," said Leipsic. "Coding for example... there are businesses in Manitoba with offices everywhere, they can't hire coders fast enough."

At the end of the day, Leipsic hopes students will walk away with career information to think about or talk over with their parents when they get home.  

Melissa Wiebe from W.C. Miller Collegiate in Altona attended the event. Wiebe is passionate about becoming a hair stylist one day but said the day was still useful for exploring schools and employers.

Luke Bergen from Shevchenko School in Vita said he also learned about where he can go to school for mechanics and small engine repair.

A second World of Choices event is coming to Split Lake in the coming weeks.