Bakersfield College Career Education, Industrial Automation, and STEM hosted a Manufacturing Day event in and around BC’s outdoor theater on Sept. 30.

Students from high schools throughout Kern County attended, and there were booths from different companies such as API and Amazon.

Students interviewed at the event said they were there to gain insights on the career they wanted to be in. Many hovered around the Corvette, which was one of the most popular displays. All the booths on hand offered information and even treats such as candy, pens, stickers etc.

Representatives from the American Petroleum Institute (API) said they wanted to share knowledge about their company, and that they give out different scholarships. Scott Bender and Jeff Hamson said they gave out about $80,000 of scholarships in the past.

J.G Boswell Co., an ag company, said they wanted to get their name out and to find students to have options in what they want to do with their career. Martha H. a representative at J.G Boswell said, “You can’t really go wrong with AG (agriculture).”

Amazon representatives said that they were there to educate the different students on the different positions they have at Amazon, and the different departments they have. Breana Renteria, a representative from Amazon said she has gone through four departments and there is always room to grow at Amazon. Another representative at Amazon, Amanda Gray, said they also are forming a program for awareness for women and to say that women are a big part of Amazon too.

The aerospace company Stratolaunch said they wanted to develop a connection with different students and even offer some jobs at their company

Brianna Vogel, a teacher at West High School, said she wanted to show her students the different opportunities they have in Bakersfield for STEM and IT.

Anthony Vasquez, a mentor at South High School said, Virtual Enterprise, a program at his high school, invited him to this event. He said he made connections with NASA, and they had a lot of opportunities and were very cool to talk to.

High school student Sofia Villaverde said that she wanted to explore the different opportunities they had here at BC and in Bakersfield and that the NASA booth was very interesting.

Another student, Aaliyah Gonzales said she was chosen to be here and that her favorite booth was the corvette, one and that she might be interested in working there.

Elian Bravo, a student from West High School, said he came to this event because he was interested in auto tech. He went to the PLC booth and said it seemed like a good environment to be in.

Matt Mcknisht said he is in the ROC program at his school and that he was interested in the IT career. He stated that he went to the Silicon booth and that it was pretty cool and that it was very hands-on.