Ciara Parizek/MDN South Prairie High School senior Lane Taylor, back, operates the controls to the Avenger Humvee, turning the upper turret in different directions while his classmate Hunter Cooper, front, waits his turn at the Army National Guard Career Fair at the Minot Armed Forces Reserve Center on Wednesday.

Members from the North Dakota Army National Guard held their annual high school career fair for juniors and seniors at the Minot Armed Forces Reserve Center on Wednesday, showing them possible career opportunities in the military.

Around 200 students from 10 nearby schools attended the career fair, getting the chance to ask questions about the North Dakota Army National Guard.

Bishop Ryan Catholic School juniors Tyler Burns and Aidan Kelly-Binkoski, who attended with their class, said they are thinking about joining the Army National Guard after high school.

Both said they thoroughly enjoyed getting to see different types of weapons the soldiers get to use in times of war. After learning so many different things during the career fair, they were given information to process and decide if that is truly the path they want to take in life. Kelly-Binkoski plans to go to college, possibly even while he is enlisted, but Burns currently has no college plans.

Sgt. 1st Class James Kenney and Staff Sgt. Eric Lunde were in charge of set up for the 10 stations at the career fair.

One station featured the Army combat fitness test, consisting of a deadlift with a hexbar, pushups, sprints and running while pulling weights. Nearby was the medical station, where the students were given demonstrations on how to save a comrade who may be suffering from blood loss using a tourniquet and other skills. At another station, students were able to experiment with night vision goggles.

Outside, there were several military vehicles lined up, including an anti-aircraft defense Avenger Humvee, Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) Humvee, soldier transportation vehicle that has tracks like a tank, a boat that can push bridge pieces around in water when necessary and a truck with a hook to move pallets or other pieces of equipment.

A Black Hawk helicopter was open and ready for students to examine and sit inside. They were even able to sit in the cockpit.

Several types of weapons were available for viewing as well.

Lunch for the students consisted of a meal-ready-to-eat (MRE). Some liked meal they received, while others did not.

Public Affairs Officer Nathan Rivard said when he first enlisted, he did not know that broadcast journalist was a position within the military, but that was the field he went into. Had he not asked military personnel questions about the existence of that type of program, he would have gone into something completely different.

“[The career fair] is the stage where it’s giving an opportunity for folks to figure out what is there,” Rivard said.