Pitt County Students check out career options with Grow Local 2023

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - The Pitt-Greenville Airport was the classroom for the day for some Pitt County students, like eleventh grader Isabella Whitford.

“I think it’s really cool because we don’t get to see this kind of stuff often, and it’s different than being just car stuff, and it’s cooler to see like airport stuff,” said Whitford.

Whitford is taking a mechanics course at Ayden-Grifton High School, and the trip to the airport gave students a chance to see the inner workings of a plane.

“This opportunity allows them to see what they may be interested in in the future that they may not have been able to hear about otherwise,” said Lauren Phillips, the Marketing and Communications Director for the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce.

All this week, Phillips says middle and high school students will explore their community and learn about future job opportunities and ask questions to see if it’s a career they might be interested in, as part of Grow Local 2023.

“We used to come out and do this during summer, and like, I’ve had experience doing this stuff and being here it just brings back memories, and in the future, I’m thinking about getting into this stuff,” said Ninth Grader William Bolin.

Not only does this allow students to find a new interest, but it could also help employers find future workers.

“It’s exciting to see that high schoolers can come to a job site like ours, a local job site, something that’s really helping to go to the community and that they can take interest in that and hopefully that they can continue staying in this industry,” said construction project manager, David Paul Ellis.

The opportunities students will have this week range from shadowing physical therapists to learning from WITN’s own First Alert weather team.

This year’s grow local has more than 2,900 students and 86 businesses that will participate in the program throughout the week.