Students will engage in hands-on demos of jobs at the Discovery Middle School Career Expo. This Discovery student is building a design challenge with spaghetti and tape. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Manufacturing, marketing and medicine are just a few fields that students will survey at the premiere Discovery Middle School Career Expo.

The full-day expo April 16 from 8 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. hopefully will steer students to jobs they can master and enjoy. Headquartered in the gym, the expo will spill onto Discovery’s north parking lot.

Students will see real-world jobs by “people who actually work in various local trades and careers,” Julia West said. West teaches STEM II (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses in the STEM Academy. Youth will ask about various careers and “learn what it takes to be a desirable candidate for those jobs.”

West and Angela O’Neill with Sci-Quest Hands-On Science Center are event organizers.

West believes local businesses and companies will want to showcase current occupations so “students experience what it’s like to work in that career field. Hopefully, the businesses can convey their expectations of an employee. Maybe, a summer internship could be in the future for some students.”

Students will receive a card stating three exhibits to visit, and representatives will initial their cards. Later, teachers will relay students’ comments to West and O’Neill for the 2016 expo.

Exhibits also will showcase jobs in agriculture, architecture, education, finance, tourism, information technology, law enforcement and transportation.

Mitzi Adams, solar physicist with Marshall Space Flight Center, will present a portable planetarium with constellations and night sky, along with telescopes to view the sun. She will field questions about possible careers in astronomy and aerospace.

In addition, officials will attend from Athens State University, Calhoun Community College and J. F. Drake State Community and Technical College. Drake State will bring various hands-on models from various career opportunities.

All Discovery students can attend. “Students need to experience various career opportunities to peak their interests,” West said. “The expo can give a student a direction for their courses in high school to advance them into college and career interests.”

A business can register by emailing to jwest@madisoncity.k12.al.us.