This weekend, the Delaware Area Career Center will host its second Career Tech Saturday event in which it’s inviting students in grades third through fifth from county schools to visit and get hands-on with some of its programs.

The event was held for the first time last year and featured hour-long sessions in the App Development, Automotive Technology, Construction and Digital Design programs. Lisa-Marie Reinhart, career readiness coordinator for the DACC, said Wednesday Career Tech Saturday is made possible thanks to money received from House Bill 110, which established funding for career awareness and exploration for K-12 students.

This year, the program will be held on Saturday at the DACC’s campus, 4565 Columbus Pike in Delaware, with hour-long sessions beginning at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. This year’s event will feature sessions in app development, T-shirt design and video production, law enforcement and digital design. Students may register for one or two sessions. The event is free and open to third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students who attend Big Walnut, Buckeye Valley, Delaware, Olentangy, Worthington or Westerville schools.

Reinhart explained the programs at each event will change year to year to give students more opportunities if they attend year after year.

“With it being free and the time commitment is really low, several families are staying for two sessions,” Reinhart said. “(That’s) two different career experiences. Hopefully by doing this, it just plants some seeds of opportunities for education and career pathways they might be interested in in the future.”

Reinhart said the event is not intended as a recruitment tool for the DACC but is designed to raise student awareness of different career paths.

“I hope they have a positive experience that raises awareness of some (career) opportunities,” Reinhart said. “We want to make it engaging and fun. Not just a come and listen experience, (but a) come and get a hands-on feel for what this is like and hopefully that is a taste of what the program is like. It’s a great opportunity.”

She said she enjoyed having younger families in the building last year.

“When we did it last year it was nice to see students who had never been in DACC (and for them to see) our authentic classroom learning environments,” Reinhart said. “It’s exciting have adults in our buildings. It opens the conversation to our adult education programs. That’s not something we push, but it’s a way for us to be a resource.”

Reinhart said she hopes the program continues, and she’d like to see some students from the event enroll at the DACC in the future.

“We do see with our summer camps that we have students that attend camp and eventually enroll,” she said. “I hope as we continue to do the program, we will see students that return for some of our programs.”

More information about the event can be found at www.delawareareacc.org/o/dacchs/page/career-tech-saturday.

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.