Boys & Girls Club Blog

January 14, 2026

Our teens are taking meaningful steps toward their future careers through our Workforce Development field trip series! Beginning in October, our high school teens have had the chance to explore different career industries in our local area. This series allows teens to see potential careers firsthand by providing them with a chance to speak with industry professionals, see the working environment and learn the skills and requirements needed for a particular profession.

The Club Teen Center has been thrilled to be able to partner with local businesses and organizations to help make this series possible. The industry trips that are planned in the coming months include cosmetology, financial services, shipping/production, civics/government, music/the arts, education, transportation and many more.

In October 2025, teens began this series and explored government service opportunities through the Oshkosh Police Department, the Oshkosh Fire Department and the United States Marine Corps. Teens were able to participate in an interactive mock crime scene investigation with police officers, suit up in fire gear and overcome a variety of obstacles designed by Oshkosh Fire Station 13 and then participated in challenging military workout directed by Oshkosh’s local Marine Corps recruiter.

Alyssa Martinez, the Club’s Director of Teen Services and Workforce Development, has seen how these trips impact teens on their career journeys: “Many teens have an idea about what they would like to pursue in the future. However, some of them do not get the chance to personally interact with the industries that have piqued their interest. This field trip series gives those teens an opportunity to interact with
those environments and make decisions about whether or not a career choice is right for them. Through this offering, I have seen the teens’ eyes open to new possibilities that they didn’t even know existed before. Teens can use this to better plan their road-map to the future. It is something I wish I would have had the chance to do more of as a teenager and we are so excited to be able to help facilitate this for them!”

This series will continue throughout 2026 to provide meaningful career interactions for our workforce’s next generation.

If you or your organization are interested in having your career industry become the next stop on this workforce series, please contact Alyssa Martinez at alyssam@bgcosh.org.