MARYSVILLE – For some, it’s hard to visualize a career without having some hands-on experience.

To make that connection, the Marysville School District partnered with local organizations for its first Trade UP event at Marysville-Pilchuck High School June 2.

“It connects learning to earning,” said Donneta Oremus, Career and Technical Education director for the school district.

She said Mayor Jon Nehring and school Superintendent Becky Berg were instrumental in putting together the event, which included 70 high school and 50 middle school students.

“Not everyone is going to college,” Nehring said.

Students who take CTE courses tend to lean toward vocational careers. At the event, there were representatives from fire, police, the public utility district and United Parcel Service, along with businesses that showed students how to use a jackhammer, cement mixer, truck driver and more.

There was even a simulator students could use to learn how to operate a crane.

“The experience of driving a truck or using an engineering simulator can help steer a student toward a career in the growing field of construction and manufacturing,”said Erin Monroe, Workforce Snohomish chief executive officer.

Oremus said CTE teachers in engineering, manufacturing and construction from throughout the district brought students.

While similar events have been put on elsewhere, Oremus said she wanted this one on campus during the school day so more students could participate.

“It’s creating a buzz on campus on what we’re doing,” she said.

Fire Chief Martin McFalls said his department was interested in getting more women involved.

He said nationwide just 1.5 percent of firefighters are women.

The state average is 2 percent. In his department it’s 8 percent. But he’d like it to be more.

“It’s like men in nursing,” he said about how the two careers traditionally have been dominated by the opposite sex.

A recent analysis of manufacturing in the United States shows Snohomish County has the largest increase in manufacturing jobs when compared to other major urban manufacturing communities.

From 1967 to 2014, those jobs increased 276 percent, and the county maintains the highest concentration of manufacturing jobs of any county in the state.

Participants also learned about salaries, benefits and work expectations.

“The Trade UP and Touch-a-Truck event is all about getting our students interested, excited, and motivated to pursue a career they love and want to master,” Oremus said.