See a need and fill that need. That’s the philosophy living within Greg Cerabona. A senior at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Cerabona witnessed a general disconnect between local teens and employment opportunities and, with a strong desire to lend a hand to others, sought a resolution. In his position as a member of Arlington Heights’ Youth Commission, the 17-year-old Cerabona spearheaded the creation of the northwest suburban village’s first job fair aimed exclusively at teens. The Jan. 12 event hosted at Olympic Park in Arlington Heights featured both local businesses as well as civic agencies. “It’s important for teens to have a job to gain valuable life experiences, build workplace skills and establish professional contacts,” said Cerabona, who has learned those benefits firsthand as a parttime rectory employee at St. James Parish in Arlington Heights. Addressing a local need The job fair is Cerabona’s signature addition to the youth commission he joined in mid-2010. “I want to get involved in my community and be a spokesperson for the teenage voice in the village,” he said, noting that teen unemployment is a rising national and local issue. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois’ teen unemployment rate now tops 25 percent, a tick ahead of the national rate of 24 percent and nearly 70 percent higher than the Land of Lincoln’s 2005 tally. Cerabona first conceived of the job fair last summer as he watched many of his friends seek employment. He said few knew where or how to begin their summer job search. While Cerabona understood he alone couldn’t vanquish the downtrodden numbers and match teens to jobs, he believed he could play a prominent role in better preparing local teens to distinguish themselves in a challenging job market and introduce them to potential employers. Enter the teen job fair. In addition to connecting employers and teen workers, Cerabona thought the fair would also offer teens a much-needed opportunity to develop important interview and networking skills. “I thought the job fair could be a simple way for both teens and employers to meet and for both sides to benefit,” said Cerabona, who looks to attend Chicago’s Loyola University or Butler University in Indianapolis next fall. The influence of faith Beyond the practical societal need for teens to have jobs as a way to earn money and learn important life skills, Cerabona acknowledges he was driven to create the job fair by his Catholic faith. He said his Catholic upbringing has instilled in him the value of helping others improve their lives. “The job fair was a way to bring my faith in line with a community need,” said Cerabona, who also volunteers with primary grade students in after-school religious education classes at St. James. Though Cerabona has a job himself, it’s his keen recognition of others’ plights that highlight the strength of his character, St. Viator teacher Rita King said. “Greg’s a selfless young man,” said King, who is Cerabona’s ethics teacher at the suburban high school and has known the teen’s family for years as a fellow member of the St. James congregation. “He has a true sense of mission and responds to his fellow human beings because that’s what the Gospel calls him to do.” In Cerabona, King said, she sees a young man both in tune with his surroundings as well as his Catholic identity, traits that no doubt played into his leading role with the job fair. “[Creating the job fair] is more than a good deed or humanitarian effort,” King said. “This is clearly part of who Greg is and what he feels called to do as a Catholic.”