Scores of Grambling State University students flocked to the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center Tuesday to meet with more than 70 potential employers at the 54th Lonnie Smith Career Fair. Coordinated by the Office of Career Services, it was the largest and better-attended Career Fair held for a number of years at GSU and was deemed a tremendous success.

“The Grambling State University Office of Career Services is pleased to announce the success of our recent career fair,” said GSU Assistant Director of Career Services Antoinette Livingston. “The event brought together hundreds of college students and 75 employers that represented small local businesses to large corporations and included opportunities in fields such as healthcare, finance, technology, mass communications, and more.”

“Our goal for this event was to facilitate meaningful connections between job seekers and employers. We are thrilled to have had such a successful turnout and to have provided a platform for job seekers to showcase their skills and for employers to expand their talent pool.”

The career fair is named in honor of the late Smith, a Safety and Engineering professor in GSU’s Department of Industrial Arts who for 34 years also served as the university’s Director of Placement.
Smith passed away in 2005 but his son Lonnie Smith III was on hand for Tuesday’s event and said he was pleased with everything he saw.

“It feels good,” Smith III said. “It’s very endearing and gives me a sense of his legacy continuing, and that’s something I think a lot of people, including myself, aspire to have – something to show they have lived a life and presents a value so that it continues even after you’re gone.”

“To me, that’s a testament to a life well-lived, so it gives me a lot of pride to see his legacy continue on in this way with this kind of turnout.”

Kinesiology and Sports Management major Brandon Ford, a senior, said he plans to “go right into the work field” upon his graduation in May.

“It’s been wonderful actually,” said Ford about the career fair. “I feel like this event gives a lot of opportunities to the students – a lot of different schools and career opportunities are offered. This is great for someone like me looking for an internship because I know right after the fall, I’ll be looking for a job.”

Potential employees on hand for the fair included numerous industries, federal and law enforcement agencies, top Fortune 100 companies, and several school districts from across the United States.
Sondra Scott, a junior education major, attended in hopes of looking for both future employment and graduate school.

“It’s very eye-opening to see how many people need teachers and to see how much they’re willing to offer support like paying for your Master’s degree while you’re teaching and things like that,” Scott said. “That’s important to me because while I do plan to go to grad school and work on my Master’s in Special Education, I do plan on teaching at the same time.”

The career fair was sandwiched between two days of surrounding events offering numerous workshops and seminars Livingston said were designed to help enhance employment searching opportunities for GSU students.

“Grambling State University students were also able to attend informative workshops and network with industry professionals in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s career fair,” Livingston said. “We would like to thank all of the attendees, employers, and sponsors for making this event a success. We look forward to strengthening our partnerships with industry leaders while simultaneously creating a pipeline that supports our students’ exposure to a range of work-based learning experiences as they matriculate through the university.”