Military and firefighting helicopters hovered over the Lemhi County Fairgrounds this week as more than 600 middle and high students took part in the second annual Salmon Career Expo.
The Idaho National Guard flew in Black Hawk and Apache helicopters and the U.S. Forest Service brought in two of its firefighting helicopters as part of a broad array of exhibits to generate interest among the students in possible careers for their futures.
The expo on Sept. 23 was sponsored by the Rural Idaho Outreach Partnership, and the Lemhi County Economic Development Association worked closely with Idaho Department of Labor and the Salmon School District to organize the event. Other major contributors included Premier Technology and the Idaho National Laboratory.
The Black Hawk’s pilot, a graduate of Salmon High School, was a major attraction along with the hourly demonstration by Forest Service fire crews, who repelled from their helicopters.
Forty-four exhibiters including seven colleges participated in the expo that included a competition among high school teams to see which could build a catapult, known as a trebuchet in medieval times, which would hurl a water balloon the farthest. The Salmon High School team won the $5,000 prize offered by Premier Technology. The money will go to the school’s agricultural education program.
The students from Salmon, Dubois, Challis, Mackay and Leadore joined the crew from the Salmon River Builders Association to build a cement sidewalk for the fairgrounds during the expo and the heavy equipment operators from Lemhi County and Stoddard Construction, who regraveled the parking lot.
In addition to the colleges, military, Forest Service and heavy equipment and construction sectors, others participating included plasma cutting and fabrication, mining, heating and cooling, finance, wildlife management, the electrical and plumbing trades, health care, jewelry making, art, nuclear energy, law enforcement, emergency services, agriculture, technology, veterinary medicine, physical fitness, small business ownership, counseling and mental health, engineering and energy.
--