At Youth Summit Level Up, more than 100 students were able to network with professionals on Thursday as they head into the new school year.

Hosted by the Santa Barbara County Workforce Development Board, the free summit was hosted at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria for students to directly interact with professionals in health care, information technology, agriculture and education.

Students also engaged in 30-minute workshops focused on securing a job, including resume building, interviewing, employability skills and financial literacy. Additionally, each industry had informational panels, who gave presentations about their careers and answered questions from students.

Throughout the event, “Gen Z Whisperer” Eric Fan gave keynote presentations to engage students in preparing for the workforce. The event mainly ranged from juniors in high school to sophomores in college.

SBCWDB Operations Manager Alyssa Stovall, who was part of the events planning committee, said the event helps students “have a sense” of the different types of jobs that are available across the county.

“I think a lot of youth don’t necessarily have a clear idea of what they want to do,” Stovall said. “We want people to have a sense of the various different types of jobs that are available in Santa Barbara County. All of the employers that we have here today, they’re Santa Barbara County employers, so these are real jobs that are available to our youth in our community.”

Stovall also spoke on the importance for youths to understand “soft skills” such as interviewing and financial literacy, as they’re “not necessarily” taught in traditional classrooms.

“Having a space in which they can learn, engage and hear about these things that maybe they’re not naturally thinking about, but employers are thinking about, is really important,” Stovall said.

Before the end of the day, Goodwill Mission Services, through a $2,000 donation from CoastHills Credit Union, gave out four $500 scholarships to students based on written essays regarding how they would use the money.

Marya Santiago, a second-year student at Allan Hancock College majoring in psychology, was a recipient of the scholarship. She said that since she’s planning on a master’s degree to become a therapist, she is thankful the scholarship will help assist her.

Another scholarship recipient, third-year nursing major at Allan Hancock Ivan Alberta Silva, expressed his appreciation for the scholarship.

“I honestly feel really grateful that I won in the first place, and that I knew about this opportunity [since] being able to apply was also a privilege,” Alberta Silva said.

Alberta Silva said he was particularly interested in the healthcare panels, as he aspires to be a nurse.

“I’m really grateful that I showed up and was able to make all these connections with all these people that came and shared the time with us, and were excited to teach us,” he said. “[They] actually wanted to give us an advantage and insight [on] what the industry is like.”

At the end of the event, students were able to further engage with professionals via a resource fair. During the fair, Goodwill Mission Services raffled out laptops in order to “eliminate barriers” for students, according to Goodwill Mission Services Manager Celeste Mendoza.

Mendoza spoke on the importance of being able to remove barriers for students looking to go into higher education.

“Transportation, even supplies in general, is what limits anybody in regard to fulfilling their goals or dreams or aspirations in school or employment,” Mendoza said. “Goodwill along with partnerships like the Workforce Development Board have programs where we help eliminate those things by providing that extra support, whether that be a laptop, whether that be a potential scholarship, or even assistance with a resume to find a job.”