North Side High School hosts agricultural career fair

JACKSON, Tenn. — One local high school hosts a career fair that offers students resources and highlights potential career paths.

North Side High School in Jackson had their first career fair that focused on agriculture.

“Traditionally, when you ask students about agriculture, the first thing they say is all they know is about farms, animals and things like that,” said Danielle Shaw Jones, biostem director at North Side High School.

Jones worked alongside a former student, now an agriculture professional, who offered resources to make this fair possible. This career fair was available to all students no matter their grade.

“We’re gonna offer up to other companies in the area. My idea is I want to try and keep jobs in West Tennessee for our community so we can build our community instead of having our students leave out and have to go to other places,” said Jones.

Currently, Ag is offered as a program of study for North Side’s students.

“Agriculture is one of the program studies here at North Side High School. There are two programs of study within the agriculture department. There is an animal science program of study and a plant science program of study,” said Wesley Blankenship, agriculture teacher at North Side High School.

Blankenship shares that teaching students how their food is processed is another course they offer along with a drone class.

“One program that we just started here recently is a drone program we’re teaching our students how to fly drones and how drones are used in the agriculture industry,” said Blankenship.

For the spring 2025 semester, there are plans to offer a bigger career fair for students.

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