Students Explore Career Opportunities 

Submitted by Adam Poush, CWU GEAR UP – Chelan Site Director

On Thursday, March 29, a group of twenty-six (26) 9th and 10th graders from Chelan and Manson High Schools took a field trip to Wenatchee with the CWU GEAR UP program.

In the morning, students got an opportunity to explore the state-of-the-art McDougall and Sons warehouse. They learned about warehouse operations, automation and robots, computers and information technology, refrigeration and cold storage, and other various aspects of apple and cherry packing facilities.

In the afternoon, they attended three presentations at the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center to learn about careers and research related to entomology (the study of insects), plant pathology (viruses, molds, and funguses), and plant breeding programs.

This was a great opportunity for students to see that the apple industry can provide a wide array of career opportunities.

ABOUT CWU GEAR UP:

The Central Washington University (CWU) MOSAIC2 GEAR UP Project serves 2040 students in Brewster, Highland, Lake Chelan, Manson, Omak, Oroville, Quincy and Tonasket school districts and Orchard and Pioneer Middle schools in the Wenatchee school district, beginning in 6th or 7th grade. Through GEAR UP partnerships, local schools, community-based organizations, businesses, and institutions of higher education work together to strengthen academic programs and student services in the schools so that students are prepared academically and financially to enter and succeed in college.