On Wednesday, Nov. 10, from 5:30 to 9 pm, DECA is scheduled to host a free job fair in the cafeteria for all high school students who are interested in finding new work or volunteer opportunities.

There will be businesses looking to hire students for paid jobs along with volunteer organizations looking to recruit more members, said event coordinator and senior Reine Rambert. Students from Niles North and Evanston are also expected to attend.

“Basically, we’re holding a youth job fair.  Kids normally complete their community service by fundraising and donating the money to a charity, but we wanted something unconventional.  We know kids want jobs or are looking for volunteer work, so we’re holding this little fair for information about business and entering the world of business,” said Rambert.

The event was coordinated as an independent project by two DECA members, Rambert and senior Fiona Mohan, who are also in business classes. They set up the event with the help of DECA sponsors, Eric Lueder and Rick Kolze; Niles North teacher, Lisa Edelson; and applied science director Chris Powell.

Rambert and Mohan said they faced a few conflicts when coordinating the job fair.

“We called local businesses along with retail stores from places like Old Orchard.  It’s difficult to organize though because it’s hard for some of them to send representatives,” said Rambert.

Despite the difficult organization, there will be local park districts, stores from Old Orchard, local libraries, daycares such as Family Focus (located in Evanston), and Niles Township politicians seeking interns, said Rambert.

A list of organizations and businesses set to attend the job fair can be found at http://sites.google.com/site/decayouthjobfair/to-dos.

Another conflict with the job fair was finding a location.

“We signed up to use the cafeteria, but last week we found out there were like four other events here at West,” said Rambert.

The conflict was resolved with the help of the sponsors.

Lueder agrees that the event was difficult to coordinate.

“With projects like this you never know how it’ll go until it happens,” he said. “They involve a lot of stuff out of our control, but I’m excited.  The girls worked really hard.  They had a great idea.”

Students interested in attending should bring a résumé and dress semi-formally, said Rambert.