CHOCOWINITY — High school is a formative time in any teenager’s life — from choosing a circle of friends, to forming one’s own independent opinions and choosing a potential career path.

Last week, Southside High School strove to help students answer the big question of what to do after graduation by bringing the career and college options to them.

As part of the school’s career fair, students were allowed to browse through a full house of exhibits in the media center, including exhibits by military branches, colleges, health care workers, businesses and many other workforce professionals.

Katie Marett, a school psychologist, said she thinks the career fair was a good way to inform students about what their options are based on their areas of interest.

“I’ve had several kids come over, and they’re interested in psychology,” Marett said. “I didn’t know about it (school psychology) when I was in high school.”

She said when it comes to psychology, in her experience, students either love it or hate it, and they don’t know all the ways a psychology degree can be used.

Emily Beddard, a senior at Southside High, said she has dreams of being a nurse, so she found Vidant Health’s exhibit the most helpful to her.

Beddard said she also talked with the representatives from Beaufort County Community College, as she plans to attend there, and they walked her through some of the class requirements in the nursing program.

“I’m already on the fast track to going,” she said. “You get to know what you’re going to need.”

Beddard said she appreciated the one-on-one setup of the career fair, as it’s easy to get lost in a sea of information on the internet when researching careers.

“It makes an absolute difference,” she said. “It’s a really big help.”

Although Beddard found the career fair to be a way to solidify her already-planned path to nursing, the fair was just as much for students who are unsure of their next steps.

Marett said she took a while to find her niche and planned to be a dentist at first. However, college was a good way to iron out her path, she said.

Marett said she hopes talking with the students at the fair will get them interested in her line of work and open them up to other options, as well.