As Pembrokeshire College students gave a sigh of relief when they broke up for the summer, Wednesday saw the college full to the brim with over 650 new visitors and all a little younger than the usual clientele!

As part of the Pembrokeshire County Council initiative, the college opened its doors to Year 9 pupils from across the county for a day focused on future career options. Pupils from Castle School, Milford Haven, Pembroke, Sir Thomas Picton, Tasker Milward, Ysgol Bro Gwaun, Ysgol Dewi Sant and Ysgol Preseli School enjoyed taster sessions on three careers of their choice.

With over 75 different careers to choose from, pupils were split in to mixed groups to attend sessions delivered by people with experience of the trade. Pupils were given advice and tips on the routes into different careers such as becoming a doctor, a lawyer, getting in to engineering or accountancy. During the sessions, pupils were given examples of a day in the life of each trade along with hands-on exercises from experienced professionals.

Organisations including Careers Wales, Dyfed Powys Police, general manager Chris Osborne from the Fourcroft Hotel, personal trainer Jason Ronowitz, Mid & West Wales Fire Rescue, physiotherapist Nick Evans, Pembrokeshire County Council, Pembrokeshire Youth Service, events planner Phil Thompson, Swansea University, Web Adept, the Western Telegraph and GP Will MackIntosh all came along to offer their expert advice.

Pupils commented: "The day has been interesting, practical and fun." Another said that they hadn't realised that there were so many options available to them after leaving school. "The session with the Welsh armed guards was really, really hard, but realistic I suppose!"

Attending the Careers Day will help Year 9 pupils to make informed choices about their future after getting a taste of what is involved.

Assistant principal, David Evans said: "We hope that this careers day will have opened pupils' minds to the vast array of careers on offer and will have inspired them to gain the qualifications needed to pursue their chosen career path. We were able to put on this day thanks to multi-agency working and we hope this will now become an annual event benefiting Year 9 pupils each year prior to them picking their GCSE options."

The sky's the limit!

To find out more about the range of courses available at the college go to http://www.pembs.ac.uk/courses">www.pembs.ac.uk/courses