May 16, 2025 – The Education Alliance for New Hampshire (EANH) hosted the inaugural Here to Help career exploration event at Heritage Park in Berlin, NH. The event welcomed over 180 middle school students from across Coös County and featured 23 community partners representing careers that serve and support local communities.
The event highlighted a variety of public-facing professions ranging from emergency services and public health to education, utilities, and environmental services. Each career station was designed to be interactive, giving students the opportunity to engage directly with professionals and gain hands-on experience with the tools and techniques used in their fields.
Students explored exhibits, demonstrations, and displays that brought various careers to life while making learning fun and memorable. Some of the interactive experiences included a demonstration with Rosie, a bomb-detecting Labrador retriever from the NH State Police K9 Unit, Jeopardy-style health trivia presented by Northern Human Services, a furnace demo by Northwoods Heating LLC, a safety inspired escape room challenge by the NH Department of Safety, and tours of the Eversource Energy “Fat Truck”, an all-terrain utility vehicle, among others.
North Country PACE Coordinator, Jake Buteau, organized the Here to Help event to show students that meaningful and exciting career opportunities exist right here in the North Country. “Many students grow up believing they need to leave the area to find viable career paths, but this event was a chance to demonstrate that the North Country has a wide range of jobs worth exploring” Buteau shared. By exposing students to these careers early, EANH aims to help them envision a future rooted in their own communities.
Students received a career exploration booklet with descriptions of each participating organization, information on job pathways, and QR codes linking to employer websites for further research. This resource was designed to encourage continued learning and career planning beyond the event.
In addition to the career stations, a raffle added excitement to the day. A variety of prizes were generously donated by community partners who support youth career education initiatives. Nine students who found golden raffle tickets in their booklets had the opportunity to select from a table of donated prizes, including gondola tickets from Omni Mount Washington, tickets to the Riverside Speedway in Groveton, t-shirts from the Gorham Fire Department, and more.
The success of the event was due in large part to the enthusiastic involvement of community partners. The Education Alliance for New Hampshire would like to recognize and thank the local businesses and organizations who were eager to share their work and help students start thinking about future career possibilities:
- Asplundh Tree Service
- Berlin Fire EMS
- Berlin Police Department
- Bryant’s Funeral Home
- Byrne’s Auto
- Coos County Sheriff
- Evan Jones Master Electrician
- Eversource Energy
- Family Resource Center
- Gorham Fire EMS
- Gorham Public Library
- Littleton Regional Healthcare
- NH Dept. of Corrections
- NH State Fire Marshal
- NH State Police Troop F
- North Country Health Consortium
- North Country Healthcare
- North Woods Heating
- Northern Human Services
- Northern NH Guide Services
- United States Army
- Warden’s Watch Podcast
- White Mountain National Forest Service
EANH plans to continue the Here to Help event as an annual initiative and hopes to expand it in future years with even more career paths and partner participation. The organization remains committed to showcasing local opportunities and fostering connections that help students imagine bright futures in their home state.
###
About North Country PACE
North Country PACE (Persistence and Continuing Education) is a career-readiness program of the Education Alliance for New Hampshire. North Country PACE seeks to improve rates of postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion among students within the most rural communities of Northern New Hampshire by developing high-quality career pathways aligned to high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand industry sectors and occupations in the region.
About the Education Alliance for New Hampshire
The Education Alliance for New Hampshire (formerly Campus Compact for NH) is a nonprofit organization that empowers students on their educational journey by aligning resources, programs, and partnerships to create equitable education and career opportunities for students, families, and communities. We are led by New Hampshire’s colleges and universities who collectively want to make a positive impact on communities across the state.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.