Exploring Futures at the Stuyvesant Career Exploration Fair

The Stuyvesant Student Union (SU) and the Stuyvesant High School Parents’ Association (PA) organized the Career Exploration Fair, which took place on Friday, January 31. This was the second event of its kind during the 2024-2025 school year, following the Career Fair that took place on Friday, October 25, 2024.

The fair allowed many students to learn about various careers in detail, directly from working professionals. The presenting parents, alumni, and guests included those working in fields of medicine and healthcare; artificial intelligence and large language models; computer science, technology, and innovation; psychology; business and economics; and architecture and planning.

Despite having already hosted one career fair in October, the SU and PA wanted to schedule another, emphasizing the importance of offering multiple opportunities for career preparedness. “We felt that students should have multiple opportunities throughout the year to learn about career preparedness and to explore new career fields. The SU in general is working towards increasing career readiness at Stuyvesant, and this was one way we wanted to work towards that goal,” SU President Madeline Goodwin said. “We had a strong turnout, and it was exciting to see so many students engaged in the fair. Students were asking a lot of questions in small groups and had opportunities to learn about a lot of different career fields.” 

A key difference between the October and January career fairs was the format. The October event had students rank their preferred career areas through a Google Form, and they were then assigned to two classrooms and professionals based on preference and space. In contrast, for the January fair, students were allowed to move between rooms—each dedicated to a specific field—and attend 30-minute lectures of their choice, with the option to stay in a classroom for longer if they pleased. This format allowed students to explore multiple fields and tailor their experience based on their interests, offering a more personalized experience not as present in the October fair. The atmosphere was engaging since students participated in Q&A sessions and communicated with professionals. 

Planning for the fair began in September under the PA’s Career Exploration Committee, which coordinated with the school administration, parents, and the Alumni Association to organize the event. To ensure the fair addressed students’ interests, the SU had students vote on a list of career areas to showcase. Then, the PA reached out to Stuy parents and the Alumni Association to help connect with Stuyvesant alumni in the top six fields that students voted for. Despite the voting, some students feel that there were not enough fields represented.

During the fair, professionals spoke about their qualifications and respective journeys towards their current line of work and offered thoughtful advice to students. Many students were worried about being unable to decide on their careers in time. In response, one of the professionals, child psychiatrist Dr. Natalie Weder, said, “I went into [psychiatry] never having any interest in biology or chemistry [...], I don’t know anybody who was always 100 percent sure [about their career].” Dr. Weder attended medical school in Mexico and did her residency at Yale, later completing research and teaching as a professor at NYU. She told students about her education path and her experience in the field.

In addition, the professionals offered important advice on being patient when deciding and not letting anyone decide for you. “But if you think about it, I’ll be doing the same from 32 until I die. So, what’s the rush to finish? These are the years in which you can explore and learn; learn to work. That’s kinda what you do,” Dr. Weder said. “I think it’s important to consider that every field will have things that you hate; every job will have really bad moments.”

Many students found this advice helpful and comforting. “The fair gave valuable insights on navigating career paths. It was reassuring to hear that there is no rush, and you don’t have to have everything figured out. That’s something I definitely needed to hear,” sophomore Jaima Zara said.

Zara also found that, during the fair, her opinion changed on what she wanted her future career to be. “I’m generally considering healthcare, but after meeting with people in tech and the AI industry, I’m thinking about getting into biotechnology, which would allow me to combine my interests in biology, engineering and computer science, so it’s pretty ideal. However, I’ve always wanted to be involved in patient care, so I’m still considering healthcare.” She gained a new perspective on her potential career path as a result of having the opportunity to learn from several professionals from different career paths. The fair allowed her to hear from professionals in both healthcare and technology, which opened up the possibility of studying biotechnology in the future. “I definitely feel more confident now about what I want to pursue,” she said.

While many students have yet to decide on a future career path, some already know what they want to do, which led to questions about whether that was acceptable given their lack of career experience. “I kinda knew I wanted to be a psychologist very early on,” neuropsychologist Dr. Elena Ostroy said. She assured students that it is acceptable to have an idea of what they wanted to do, even while relatively young. 

Some students agreed with Dr. Ostroy’s early choice. “I was interested in the medical career path because I’m very interested in biology,” freshman Daniel Zou said. Such students participate in extracurriculars relating to their fields of interest; for example, Zou partakes in Stuy Bio. Since he is already set on biology, Zou said that the fair did not help him gain perspective into another field.

Students also noticed minor logistical issues during the fair. “I noticed some logistical challenges with how blurry the room changing/time in each room was and the rules relating to those,” Zou said. Despite this, Zou said that the SU did well regarding other aspects of the fair. “They did well in making the event possible because I know coordinating people isn’t an easy task,” he said.

Overall, the Career Exploration Fair was a valuable experience for students—over 200 students attended. This event helped students delve into career options they were interested in and encouraged them to ask professionals questions to learn more about their college experiences and how they got to the path they are currently on. 

Looking ahead, the SU aims to make the Career Exploration Fair an annual event and plans to hold career preparedness events, such as workplace tours around NYC. These initiatives aim to further enrich students’ understanding of the professional world and better prepare them for the future. “In the end, the process was so rewarding to see everything come together and to see students enjoying the fair,” Goodwin said.