Eighth grade students in Durham Public Schools gathered Tuesday morning for the district's annual Acceler8, a career exploration day.
Over 70 vendors propped up tends in front of the Durham County Stadium to showcase some careers paths students can take from healthcare to energy, environment and utilities.
"With our eighth graders, they're thinking about high school," Director of Current Technical Education Darian Harris, said. "This is a great opportunity to kind of connect a high school programming to what they want to do."
Small and large companies, such as Novo Nordisk, aim to help expose students to their industries and broaden their perspectives on the world of work.
Students Makayla Oldham and Aalayah Pegram already have specific careers in mind, like a forensic scientist and animal caretaker. But, they said they enjoyed what the career fair had to offer.
"I like how you can do a lot of stuff and explore a lot of different things," Oldham said. "Even though you might not want to do it, you still have the opportunity you just learn about it."
Pegram said she enjoyed learning about electricity at one of the tents.
"We learned about volts, and there were like these two little plugs that you put into the machine," Pegram said, "and it shows how much volts it is, and it goes up when you put it into the machine and it goes down when you take like the sticks out."
According to district officials, there's no pressure to have it all figured out at a young age, but there's something exciting about knowing some of the opportunities that are out there as students get ready for high school.
"This fair is going to provide opportunities for students to explore various careers, and so when they go to high school, they have some ideas and they are ready," DPS Assistant Superintendent for Middle Schools, Dr. Kecia Rogers, said.
She said, "seeing the children light up when they see the various careers that they may have never thought of ... and ask questions. It's hands on, and so that excitement really excites me."