Last Chance: Sign up For Utica Community Schools Career Focus Luncheon

A NFL star returning to his home town and an Emmy award-winning TV reporter will serve as keynote speakers for the annual Utica Community Schools Career Focus Luncheon set for May 2 and 3, at of Shelby Township.

Frank Zombo, Green Bay Packers star linebacker and Stevenson High School graduate, and Roop Raj, TV anchor and reporter with Fox2 news, will speak to more than 2,000 UCS six-graders about their careers at the annual luncheon, which is coordinated by the UCS Foundation for Educational Excellence.

Zombo will be featured on May 2 and Raj will be the keynote speaker on May 3.

For nearly 20 years, the Career Focus luncheon has impacted the lives of literally thousands of young adults.  Business participants share their professional expertise with a table of sixth graders from Utica Community Schools.  In turn, these students, on the brink of adulthood, talk to their role models about their hopes and aspirations. Last year, was a keynote speaker.

In addition to a great meal and rewarding conversation, Zombo is sure to provide insights into his career path that led him to be a star football player with the Green Bay Packers. He will discuss his educational background and the importance of the hard work, post-secondary experiences and academic commitment that helped guide his success.

Mr. Zombo attended Oakbrook Elementary and Heritage Junior High schools, and helped lead Stevenson High School to the state football finals when he graduated in 2005.  He also played football at Central Michigan University, where he was an All-Mid-American Conference first-team selection at defensive end.

After playing at CMU, Zombo joined the Packers in 2010 for its Super Bowl championship season. His career totals include five quarterback sacks, 36 tackles and 12 assists. He is very community minded, speaking regularly to UCS students and participating in a mission trip in 2008 to Atlanta where he helped build houses and tutored inner-city kids.

Raj will discuss his award-winning career, which started at age 14 with a public-affairs talk show on a local government access station. One year later he was deemed one of the nation's youngest TV personalities when he appeared on The Phil Donahue Show. His career continued at Michigan State University where he worked at the Lansing CBS and ABC affiliates before taking his first full time job as an anchor/weatherman in Flint.

Prior to his current position, Raj worked for a news station in New Orleans where he was part of a team that earned national recognition for its coverage of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. His team earned an Emmy Award for Best Continuing Coverage and Raj earned an Associated Press first place award for "Breaking Weather Coverage.” He returned to the Detroit area in 2009 when he joined the Fox News affiliate.

The Career Focus event is co-sponsored by the UCS Foundation for Educational Excellence, the Advisor & Source Newspapers and Sterling Heights Regional Chamber of Commerce & Industry, in cooperation with the Utica Community Schools.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the Foundation's work on behalf of students.

Since its establishment in 1986, the Foundation has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for students in Utica Community Schools. For reservations or more information, call the UCS Foundation for Educational Excellence at 586.797.6953.