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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Southeast Iowa eighth grade students gathered on the Indian Hills Community College campus on Friday for the Fifth Annual Career Fair.

The Students were asked to select three professions they would like to learn more about from a list of possible careers.

Professional from around Southeast Iowa volunteered to talk to the students about their particular job.

Karen Swanson IHCC Director of High School Programs says every school in the IHCC area now participates.

But is eighth grade to early to start planning a career? Swanson says no.

“Every eighth grader needs to start thinking past lunch tomorrow of course. Because they have to start planning for their classes in high school. It's a blink of an eye and they'll be done with high school and have to think about how they want to contribute to their community,” Swanson says.

Swanson added that many of the area teachers think the program is invaluable.

So much so that it now takes too separate days to run every student through the fair.