More than a thousand high school students descended Thursday on Fort Lewis College for a blockbuster career fair organized by San Juan Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

The 1,300 students, who were bused in from Durango, Bayfield, Ignacio, Cortez, Pagosa Springs and Silverton, sat rapt in classrooms as veterans of the job market proselytized the virtues of their various professions and explained basics – such as qualifications and salaries.

The fair, organized by BOCES’ Natalie Bertrand, covered dozens of fields, including fine arts, information technology, college readiness, business, agriculture and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) jobs.

Many adult participants were also disarmingly candid about the drawbacks and joys of their professions.

For instance, in one of the military sessions, a Marine recalled that a highlight of his service involved renting a hotel room in Asia equipped with a gold toilet.

“If you haven’t done your business on a golden toilet, I highly recommend it,” Petty Officer Milstead said, before returning to his main theme – how he became a nuclear engineer with the Navy.

Sgt. First Class Dwayne Enderle with the Army National Guard also spared the high school students the usual rigmarole about heroics and said the part of his job he most enjoyed was “shooting things and blowing things up.”

High school students – who are expert in tuning out boring, self-aggrandizing and lecturing adults – took a clear shine to the military recruiters’ frank, often self-effacing anecdotes (and their spirited digs at the Air Force), asking a lot of questions between bursts of laughter.

Enderle said after the session that total honesty was the only sensible policy.

“I don’t mess around with the kids, there’s just no point in lying to them,” he said.

Upper Pine River Fire Protection District Chief Bruce Evans told students that while firefighting gets most of the glory, “80 percent of our runs are emergency medical services.”

He said that students should take advantage of biology courses in high school – while they’re still free.

Evans touted Colorado State Fire Fighters Association’s volunteer incentive, whereby students receive $5,000 tuition reimbursement at any in-state college in return for making a two-year commitment to volunteer at a local fire department.

“You can apply for it twice, for $10,000,” said Evans.

Meanwhile, Durango Police Department school resource officers Leonard Martinez and Jim Martindale told students seated in their auditorium that the most important aspect of being an effective police officer was not – as one student guessed – mastering the art of eating doughnuts, but reading and writing skills.

Martindale, who engaged students in a lively banter and chuckled at their police jokes, said the most frustrating aspect of being a police officer is when cases fall apart in court.

“If you forget to cross a ‘t’ or dot an ‘i,’ the judge will turn someone loose, though they might have killed somebody,” he said.

Ignacio High School sophomore Grace Lister said though she most enjoyed the law-enforcement session, she is likely to pursue a career in art or psychology.

Lister and her friend Ignacio senior David Baca agreed the career fair had been interesting, with Baca noting his STEM sessions were “really informative,” helping him get a handle on what courses he’d have to take in college.

Durango High School student Joseph Logan, a junior, said he was nervous about entering the job market.

He said he wants to go into film or mechanical engineering, and he’d gotten a lot out of the fair.

“I learned a fair amount about how to pursue pathways – how to get to college and what classes to take there,” he said.

Adulthood is a precipice, and Logan is acutely aware he’s approaching it. The questions it thrusts on everyone – Who are you? What are you good at? How will you make money? What will they say about you when you die? – couldn’t be answered by the fair.

But Logan said he appreciated the largely unvarnished adult advice.

“What job I want to do, what college I want to go to, how to enjoy what I’m learning – I want to know that. And also what classes and programs will lead to a happy life,” he said.

cmcallister@durangoherald.com