Article written by Ainsley Hall and published in The Journal on November 19, 2025, link to article HERE.
Berkeley County Schools hosted a career fair Wednesday evening on Nov. 12 at Martinsburg High School. The event started when Family and Community Engagement Coordinator Travis Williams applied for a grant through the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation. After talking with Superintendent Ryan Saxe and brainstorming idea, Williams decided hosting a career fair would be a great way to engage with the community and provide families with more resources and opportunities.
Williams specifically chose to have the event at Martinsburg High School because it was a great, centralized location for everyone in the community. Many of the attendees also attended Martinsburg High School themselves, making it a familiar safe space where people can feel confident in themselves as they look to start a new career.
“When parents have more opportunities, that trickles down to the students as well,” Williams said. “It sort of brings it full circle, because many parents of students realize this is really about the student and giving their family a better life.”
As Williams helped organize the event, he said waiting for vendors to sign up was difficult. He described seeing one business register and eagerly waiting for more, but with help from Berkeley County Schools’ communications department and the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce, word got around quickly, and they had many organizations that wanted to get involved. That included P&G, State Farm Insurance, Treplar, United States Department of Agriculture, Rockwool, Harvest Homes, FedEx, Meritus Health, Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, CASA and many more.
“The support for Berkeley County Schools has been amazing,” Williams said. “When I’m making phone calls and say I work for Berkeley County Schools, so many people are willing to listen and get involved. That’s one of the biggest things I’ve seen working on this event.”
Despite not opening until 5:30, Williams said they had people arriving at 3:30, eager to participate. In addition to having several businesses, the schools also invited Musselman High School Photography teacher Melissa Burton to take professional headshots and resume building from Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. They even offered childcare to remove barriers and help parents focus on connecting with potential employers.
“We realized that not having access to childcare can prevent a lot of people from getting a job,” Williams said. “We didn’t want that to be a barrier.”
Williams considered the event a success and was happy, so many people came out to take advantage of the opportunity. He hopes Berkeley County Schools will continue putting together events like this to support families and create more opportunities.