Shiawassee Businesses and Students Participate in Career Quest Event October 31, 2019 Barry Link of Aptek engages with students at Career Quest event at the Dort Event Center in Flint. On Wednesday, October 23, eager students from across the I69 Thumb Region of Michigan participated in the first MiCareerQuest east hands-on career exploration event. MiCareerQuest East is the largest one-day, career exploration event for high school students ever held in the region. The event was coordinated by Michigan Works and was held at the Dort Event Center. Over 3,000 students from a 6 county region (Shiawassee, Genesee, Tuscola, Huron, Sanilac, Lapeer) attended MiCareerQuest East. During their MiCareerQuest experience, students got a chance to participate in hands-on simulations and demonstrations in a variety of in-demand careers. The event was open to student’s grades 6-12. Approximately 400 of those students where from Shiawassee County. MiCareerQuest East featured over 100 exhibiting organizations, showcasing more than 125 in-demand occupations in four industry quadrants: construction, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology. The purpose of the event was to create awareness of the rewarding jobs available in northeast Michigan, many of which have a talent shortage today and are anticipated to have even greater demand in the future. Exhibitors spent the past several months designing interactive demonstrations designed to engage students and highlight the skills needed to succeed.