Expanding Student Career Awareness through the Career Speakers Series
Students engage in a hands-on activity with a career speaker that highlights the work the speaker does and the skills they use in their industry.
During the 2024-2025 school year, BB2C continued our mission of fostering relationships to inspire career choice through our Career Speaker Series. This past year, the initiative brought over 70 professionals from 46 businesses, representing a variety of industries—including healthcare, finance, IT, trades, education, natural sciences, and more—into school districts in Washington County and beyond.
Through the Career Speaker Series, students had the chance to hear directly from local professionals about their career pathways, daily responsibilities, and what it takes to be successful in their fields. Speakers shared their stories, from how they got started to the unexpected twists along the way, offering real-life insight into the jobs that power our region. Hands-on activities, visuals, and engaging discussions made sessions memorable—and for some students, life-changing.
“This series helped me realize there are more options out there than I thought,” one student shared through the feedback form. Another said, “Now I know I want to be an engineer. It sounded way more interesting after hearing the speaker talk about their job.”
Schools and educators also saw an impact. Speakers worked with 16 educators and made a total of 124 visits to K-12 classes in schools in the Belpre City School District, Fort Frye Local Schools, Frontier Local Schools, Marietta City School District, Switzerland of Ohio Local School District, Warren Local Schools, and Wolf Creek Local Schools as well as schools in Noble County. One educator noted, “Having real-world professionals in our classrooms brought relevance and energy that you can’t get from a textbook.”
For businesses, it was an opportunity to invest in their future workforce. One speaker reflected, “Talking to the students reminded me why I love what I do—it was refreshing and inspiring.” The businesses that connected with schools through this program included:
Waterford students have a chance to work on an activity with PSE engineer Sean Kufel through BB2C’s Career Speaker Series.
AEP
Ataraxia Properties
Appalachian Children Coalitions
Building Bridges to Careers
Beeline Copy, LLC
Caron Scientific
Cedar Ridge Behavioral Health Solutions
Edward Jones
Elliott Financial Group
Education Talent Search
Eye Care Associates
Ferroglobe USA Metallurgical
The Gritt
Hopewell Health Centers
Huntington Bank
IUPAT DC 53
Lincoln Tech
Magnum Magnetics
Marietta College
Marietta Electrical JATC Training Center
Marietta Municipal Court
Memorial Health System
The Modern College of Design
Momentive
Muskingum College
Ohio Natural Energy Institute
The Ohio State University
Peoples Bank
Peoples Bank Theatre
Perry & Associates CPAS
PSE
PWC
Rio Grande
The Safety Factor, LLC.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Warren Local School District
Washington County Career Center
Washington County Health Department
Washington County Prosecutor’s Office
Washington County Sheriff’s Office
Washington Electric Cooperative
Washington Soil & Water Conservation District
Washington State College of Ohio
West Liberty University
Westbrook
Wood County Society
WVU-Parkersburg
Zwift, Inc.
As we look ahead to the 2025-2026 school year, BB2C invites professionals from in and around Washington County to get involved. Whether you want to share your story once or across several classrooms or school districts, your story matters and can help inspire students with their future career pathways. To sign up, email klwebber@bb2careers.org. Help students dream bigger—and help shape the future of our region, one conversation at a time.