2024 NW Youth Careers Expo

GreenWorks had the unique opportunity to participate in the NW Youth Careers Expo held last week at the Oregon Convention Center. This event is the Pacific Northwest’s premier career-exploration experience for high-school students in Oregon and Southwest Washington. It is hosted annually by the Portland Workforce Alliance, a non-profit organization that provides high school students with access to real-life work experiences, career development, and career-learning opportunities. Around 6,000 students were in attendance this year.

It was our first time sharing the multifaceted profession of landscape architecture at this fun and engaging event. We were honored to be invited by Madeline Kokes, Career and Community Partnerships Coordinator at Grant High School (and a longtime friend of our Founding Principal, Mike Faha), and our booth was generously sponsored by Prosper Portland. We sent Jeannine Davis, one of our stellar landscape designers, to represent us. She connected with a large and diverse population of high school students inspired to learn more about landscape architecture as a possible career path. She had these impressions to share about the experience:

It was a busy day with a steady flow of curious and engaged young minds. I was consistently impressed with the students I spoke with about their goals and interests.  Quite a few of them were already on an architecture, ecology, or design path, and some had previously heard of landscape architecture as a profession. Many recognized our projects around the Portland area, and a couple were thrilled to hear we had worked on one of their favorite places. One group asked if we could come to their school and talk more about how we approach climate change, sustainability, and the design of public spaces. We surely lit a few fires for some of the students, and I felt as inspired by them as they seemed to be by us. We’d love to do it again next year!