A group of 30 West Holmes High School students who are participants in Jim Park’s two entrepreneurship classes didn’t need crystal balls, Tarot cards or tea leaves to see what their future might hold.

They simply traveled to Wooster’s Fisher Auditorium on Tuesday, Jan. 10 as part of a field trip to listen to keynote speaker Sandra Pianalto, president and chief officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, who talked about the state of the current economic situation, and where the current trends are heading for both the economy and for unemployment numbers. In addition, Pianalto spoke about the need for Ohio to continue to press forward in its pursuit of quality education.

Park said the trip was a good eye-opener for the students, who got to hear the message about education from someone other than those they hear it from all the time.

“I think that the kids hear about how important a good education is and getting the right training for the future from people around them all the time, and it may get a little stale,” said Park. “This time they got to hear it from someone in the real world who is directly involved with the economic market, and maybe that helps the message sink in a little more, just because it is coming from a different place.”

Park said that growing up as a teenager back in the 1980s, teens didn’t have to think nearly as hard about where they were headed because jobs were more plentiful. Today, with unemployment sneaking up toward nine percent, the job market has become incredibly competitive, and teens need to start thinking about their future now more than ever.

Pianalto pulled no punches in painting a picture of slow economic growth over the next few years, and talked a great deal about the unemployment numbers that currently haunt the nation and Ohio.

Near the end of her speech, she turned her attention toward the importance of Ohio continuing to stress the importance of education and creating properly skilled people to usher into the work world.

“We’ve got to stay focused on making sure we have proper training and educational facilities, and the proper kind of training in place,” said Pianalto.

She said based on the current state of the economy, and the sluggishness of the recovery, an optimistic outlook in returning to that natural rate will take between four and five years, not a faltering number, but one she said was obtainable.

“We lost more than nine million jobs during the recession, and that nearly doubled the unemployment rate,” said Pianalto. “That is a big hole to dig ourselves out of. Four years could be conservative.”

Based on a forecast of small but steady improvement over the next year and into the following several years, Pianalto said there are positives to take from the state of the economy in the nation and in Ohio. She alluded to the fact that Ohio in particular has shown strong progress in the fields of health care and alternative energy, two areas where she expects growth to take place.

She said that innovation is going to pay dividends for Ohioans, but added that Ohioans must continue to set the bar high in terms of education, which will promote the process of recovery and create skilled laborers in those fields.

The information was, if nothing else, incredibly important for the young adults to hear, and Park said going into the seminar that his hope was that Pianalto was going to address the labor market and unemployment issues heavily.

“She did a nice job. I was really impressed,” said Park. “I think if the kids take anything away from this experience, it is that educational skills and employment opportunities go hand-in-hand. There is a real need to make yourself marketable so you don’t end up on the wrong side of the unemployment statistics.”

Park said that the following day in school, the classes discussed what Pianalto had said, and how it pertained to their current days in school and their future in the work world.

The students seemed to have a solid grasp on what they had heard from the chief executive officer.

“Just seeing how much everything has gone downhill, I see how things have gotten worse, so we know it’s shaky,” said senior Joy Edinger. “It’s really important for us as young people to stay active and on top of this kind of information so we can help be part of the solution.”

The message of learning did not escape senior Andrew Vaccariello, who said the event was very worthwhile for all of the students because it gave them a glimpse of what lies ahead.

“Education is a big part of the future of the job market,” said Vaccariello. “It’s important to use that education to the best of your abilities so you have a brighter future.”