PEORIA, Ill. – Eighth grade students across central Illinois are getting a feel for a wide variety of careers this week.

More than 60 schools and 4,000 students are participating in the 9th annual Career Spark at the Peoria Civic Center through Thursday. The event is put on by Junior Achievement of Central Illinois, in partnership with the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council.

The event features hands-on experiences in industries such as healthcare, agriculture, to public service, to help students explore different careers.

GPEDC CEO Chris Setti says it helps students who are starting to formulate what they want to do for a living.

“By having a hands-on experience, you really get to say ‘This is cool, this is something I didn’t even know I could do, I didn’t know this was a car

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