LA GRANGE — Students at North Lenoir High School had the chance to interact with colleges and all types of potential employers Tuesday morning during the school’s annual career fair.

Representatives from local businesses, law enforcement, local government agencies and colleges gathered in the NLHS gymnasium Tuesday morning to offer students a look at options for their futures. NLHS counselor Hilary Lucas said all the students benefit from the chance to see what is available for them after they graduate.

She said around 65 different organizations were represented at the fair. College advisor Leah Daniel said it was important to the organizers that a good mix of organizations be present.

“Our kids are going to take different paths and we want to make sure we are serving all the students,” Daniel said.

Numerous colleges and universities from across the state were present, including many different departments from Lenoir Community College. Daniel said having colleges that are not in the immediate area come to the school is a real benefit for many of the juniors and seniors at NLHS.

“We can’t take every student on a college field trip, and not every student can afford to go on their own, so this is a time when a lot of colleges are coming to them and they are getting that face-to-face interaction with representatives and getting their questions answered,” she said.

Students also had the chance to interact with representatives from the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office, North Lenoir Volunteer Fire Department and the North Carolina Department of Transportation. For more immediate employment needs, Chick-fil-A owner John McPhaul was present, and was taking applications for afterschool and summer jobs. He said many of the students took the opportunity to fill out applications.

Lucas and Daniel said it was good to see all the work they had put into organizing the career fair pay off and to watch the students receiving the benefit of the hours of recruiting and organization.