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Logan Petruska of Edwardsburg, usually seen drumming with the Southwestern Michigan College Jazz Ensemble, doesn’t graduate until next spring.

He came to Wednesday’s Career Fair in Mathews Conference Center East on SMC’s Dowagiac campus dressed for success because while “music has been my passion since I was 7 years old,” the business major March 20 focused on banks and financial institutions.

“I’m not sure what I want to do, but something in the realm of finance,” he said.

“I actually didn’t plan to go to college originally,” Petruska said. “It was a last-minute decision that I don’t regret at all.”

Petruska first learned to play guitar, then drums, saxophone and “I know some piano. Music will always be a passion. There are a lot of us who do band or choir for fun.”

Trevor Zimmerman hosted the Honors Program benefit fashion show highlighting interview attire in the Student Activity Center theatre March 12. Zimmerman, a President’s List student from Niles, has done an internship, so was scouring the Career Fair for “a fulltime position with benefits with an accounting firm. I’m ready to go” as soon as he graduates on May 4.

“I came last year just to talk to people,” Zimmerman said. “This year, I’m graduating, so I want to close in on a position. I think I can stay in the region, which is very important to me.”

Zimmerman, a bit older than his contemporaries, came to SMC in the spring of 2023. Last April, at the Honors Program’s student research showcase, “No-TED Talks,” he presented on equity.

“I already have a bachelor’s degree,” he said, “so I just had to take accounting and business courses.” His previous degree is in medical laboratory science, which he worked in for 6 ½ years.

Andrew Jackson, also of Niles, was one of two robotics students showing 108 students from Cassopolis, Watervliet, Buchanan and the South Bend Career Academy around the Niles campus lab Feb. 23 during SMC’s Welding and Robotics Day.

“It’s really cool. Today I’m looking for a summer robotics internship,” said the Dean’s List student, who expected to transfer to Goshen College since he is also interested in broadcasting.

The Career Fair was also open to the community.

Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz was pleasantly surprised to be thanked by a man grateful that he was prosecuted because it turned his trajectory back onto a productive path. With his life turned around, he was job-hunting.

With 60 employers across a variety of fields, including agriculture, automotive, financial, health care, manufacturing, public service and telecommunications, plus a professional photographer taking complimentary head shots, MCC East was packed throughout the three-hour event.