Iowa Central Community College hosted its annual Careers on Wheels event at the East Campus on Tuesday morning, inviting area middle schoolers to visit with local businesses to see how their vehicles help contribute to their work.

Students from St. Paul Lutheran School, St. Edmond Catholic School, Southeast Valley Middle School and Paton-Churdan Schools came to the event.

“It’s really an incredible learning experience,” said Megan Kruse, the work-based learning coordinator for Iowa Central. “The kids walk around in small groups and they rotate about every five or 10 minutes learning about the different careers.”

The parking lot at the East Campus was filled with dozens of vehicles from an ambulance from Fort Dodge Fire Rescue to an Iowa National Guard Humvee, to a DART bus, to an ATV used by Webster County Conservation staff.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Fort Dodge Police Officers Joelyn Johnson and Matt Meyer give a group of fifth and sixth graders a tour of a police vehicle at Iowa Central's Careers on Wheels event on Tuesday morning.

Thomas Rees, a night foreman at Martin Marietta Materials in Fort Dodge, said he enjoys telling students about his job and the machines he uses at work.

“I want to show them that this is something they could do when they’re older,” he said.

Careers on Wheels has been an annual event for several years, Kruse said. This year, Iowa Central decided to expand it and hosted an event at its Storm Lake campus and will host another event next week at the Webster City campus.

“That’s really what it comes down to — we’ve got to get out there more and educate these kids because they are our future workforce,” she said.

Kruse said she’s grateful for the partners and sponsors of the event, like the businesses who presented and the Iowa Pork Producers Association, which donated part of the lunch served to the students.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Thomas Rees, a night shift foreman for Martin Marietta in Fort Ddoge, talks to fifth and sixth graders from Paton-Churdan Schools about the wheel loader he works with during the Careers on Wheels event at Iowa Central's East Campus on Tuesday morning.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Many area fifth and sixth graders visited Iowa Central's East Campus on Tuesday morning for a Careers on Wheels event where local businesses brought company vehicles to show the students.