For learners far and wide

Winnipeg

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This article was published 21/05/2025 (297 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The second edition of the Future Now Expo, which has become the biggest interactive career expo of its kind in the province, is slated to take place at the Red River Exhibition Park (3977 Portage Ave.) on May 28 and 29.

According to its official website, the expo will bring together over 100 various organizations to help participants of any age — from Grade 9 to mature — explore different career paths and opportunities, as well as meet professionals and ask questions.

The event is somewhat of a reinvention of the Rotary Career Symposium, which was discontinued in 2020.

“We always say, it takes three years to build a relationship with the students, but it takes one year to disappear,” said Geri Clincke, the expo’s chair. Her mom helped organize the Rotary Career Symposium, and she was introduced to the event through volunteering with her family. “Then COVID hit. And so all these students have never experienced a large event this size, and we’re bringing it back in full swing.”

“It was terrifying, but the rewards are so much higher than all the pressure … seeing students flooding in from the front door was such an impactful moment. To see this is something that is needed, and students are hungry to engage with people face-to-face,” Clincke said.

There will be a lot of fresh additions to this edition, such as an area devoted to agriculture, as well as aviation, which Clincke, who works in the latter, considers a hidden gem in the province.

Another new addition is the expo’s affiliation with the Northern Manitoba Sector Council (NMSC), a major sponsor alongside Red River College Polytechnic. NMSC was brought into the picture after it reached out to the planning committee for advice on how to put together an event of this scale in its ongoing efforts to shift the bias about living and working in northern cities such as Thompson and Flin Flon. In the end, it turned into a collaboration.

“We have to sell the north,” said Glenn Laycock, executive director of NMSC. “We have to explain, because a lot of the stuff … coming out of the north is not great press, and it’s not that. I’ve lived my whole life in Thompson, and it’s more than that. You can get good jobs in the north, paying lots of money … Our family moved from Dauphin in 1967 and it’s been a great life. So those are the things you focus in on, as northerners trying to to get (the word) out, especially (in the) south.”

The council will have an allocated “northern section” at the expo, which will represent many of the industries in that part of the province.

“Ask questions,” Laycock said. “Because that’s the only way you can educate yourself enough to make those decisions, if you do want to move north.”

“It’s such a great opportunity for us,” said Clint Thiessen, a student recruitment officer at RRC Polytech, adding that a majority of the college’s programs — which range from carpentry to business analytics, with everything in between — will be on display at the expo.

“Opportunities for us to be able to showcase what we have to offer is so important for us, and this expo gives us that (chance),” he continued. “We have some different interactive activities taking place at the Expo. It’s a beautiful space to be able to do it. There’s lots of free parking, and there’s a shuttle bus to get people from Unicity to the event. So even if they’re taking public transit, there’s opportunities that way, as well.”

“We’re offering program(s) because there is a demand for people in that career, and so having people come to the expo gives them that (place) to connect with our instructors firsthand and ask questions.”

The expo will be open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., as well as 5 to 8 p.m. on May 28, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 29.

For more information, including a program, visit futurenowexpo.ca