Connecting Careers & Community in Columbia County

 by Nayna Mistry, Community Planner, Columbia County in Evans, GA

Public outreach in the planning process is essential for ensuring that planners consider the community’s needs and perspectives in the decision-making process. You may have considered contacting local organizations to distribute information or to obtain feedback. Local schools are a great resource to find out what is going on in your area and what events are open to the public or other organizations.

Nayna Mistry is the Community Planner for Columbia County, and she enjoys communicating with the public to share information, gather feedback, and involve them in decision-making. It helps build public trust, improve project quality, and ensure that projects align with community needs. 

Nayna attended the annual Career Fair on March 28, 2025, at Evans High School in Columbia County. The career fair is an event that attracts local experts and entrepreneurs to inspire the students to realize their potential. The key coordinator is Dr. Mayah Wood, who is also an educator at the school. She is also the founder and sponsor of Young Women of Style & Grace™. This is an organization of young women that are learning about self-worth, leadership, integrity, and honor. Their mottos are, “High achievement over mediocrity” and “Distinction over generalization.” Their purpose is to establish and ensure self-worth, dignity, class, and elegance through etiquette, goal setting, and achievement.

Every year, YWSG invites local organizations and businesses to inform their students about various careers, which may be familiar or unfamiliar to the students. The overall goal is to expose all students to opportunities that professionals and experts have gained through their own journeys, aspirations, education, and entrepreneurial goals.

Nayna represented careers in Planning, Architecture, Engineering, Interior Design and Landscape Architecture. Her display included several maps, books, planning magazines and renderings of new buildings. The County map showing the existing and proposed Greenway Plan sparked some interest as the students identified where they lived in relation to the landmarks shown on the plan.

Columbia County is undergoing the Comprehensive Plan update, so the display included surveys, email sign-up sheets, and notice cards displaying the website for public input. The students were appreciative of the opportunity to provide input into the design of their future community. One of the highlights was a conversation with a student who had some mobility issues and who thought that they would not be able to consider a career in design. Nayna spoke to her about considering a career in Architecture or Planning to help design environments for people just like her. The student was very motived to investigate this possibility.

There was a wide variety of careers represented, from an electrical company that was offering internships to careers in healthcare. The students were free to walk around by themselves or in groups and ask questions about the material on display and about the careers. Overall, it was a positive experience for everyone involved, and it would be a great idea if more schools had similar events.

Learn more about the GPA School Outreach Initiative, part of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, which connects planners with students to inspire the next generation and promote inclusive community engagement.