The Expo offers Stafford County students a glimpse into possible futures

Mia Roberto was doing better than her friends.

As a married mechanic with a 12-year-old child, she earned $84,000 a year. That was more than her husband, who brought home $30,000. In fact, the job was the best ever. She still had money left after paying all her expenses.

“For example, if you have children, you also have to take out childcare and insurance for them, and then phones,” she said on Wednesday.

For Roberto’s friends, the financial journey didn’t go quite so smoothly.

“They had to get another part-time job to pay off their debts and all those things,” Roberto said.

It was a life lesson that was not lost on her. But perhaps fortunately for her friends, it was just that: a lesson. Like in a school lesson.

That’s because Roberto and her classmates, high school seniors in Stafford County, attended the third annual Chart Your Future Expo at the Fredericksburg Convention Center. The event allowed more than 1,500 seniors from the county’s five high schools and the Phoenix Center for Innovative Learning to learn about opportunities for the future, whether in college, the workforce or the military.

The exhibit was the brainchild of Marcie Rice, executive director of high school leadership for the Stafford school system. Rice said it comes from the department’s strategic plan, which says students should be prepared for life after graduation.

“We consider this to be one of our highlight events for students,” Rice said. “So they’ve had these classroom experiences, but this allows them to have some sort of real-world experience or at least showcase themselves here at this event.”

Roberto, who attends Colonial Forge High School, participated in the Topside Federal Credit Union Reality Fair, a “life simulation” that presented various financial scenarios to students of varying levels of hardship.

“Some kids go broke,” said Lauren Polen, director of member engagement and inclusion at the credit union. “They lose all their money.”

Of course, this is just hypothetical money, but the idea is for students to learn how much real things like an apartment or a car cost, Poland said.

Roberto plans to join the Marine Corps after high school, and she also spoke with representatives from that military service, who were among 119 vendors at Wednesday’s event. In some cases, students were even able to apply for jobs, internships or study programs on site.

One of the vendors was Marine Corps Reserve Maj. Jake Wolff, who is also a counselor at Stafford High School. Wolff, who wore the blue Marine uniform, said the event provided an opportunity to speak to students who might have viewed the military as just a stereotypical backup plan in case college doesn’t work out. They could be candidates for an ROTC scholarship.

“So we can interact with these students and let them know, hey, college doesn’t have to be a substitute, the military doesn’t have to be a substitute, these things can coexist,” Wolff said.

Another provider was Kory Ferris, assistant director of transfer recruiting at Old Dominion University. He said students have asked him about programs at the school and what life is like on the Norfolk campus.

“Seeing their eyes light up when they learn what we have to offer and how unique some of our programs are makes my job so fun,” he said.

The fair also gave students the opportunity to explore career options. Olivia Mosier, who attends Mountain View High School, spoke with representatives from the Fire and Rescue Department and the Army, but it was an exhibition for another area that confirmed she was on the right track.

“I already have my cosmetology license, but talking to the booth made me really realize it was a career I wanted to pursue,” Mosier said.