BIDDEFORD — Sydney Speight was on a mission.

Like many inside Biddeford High School’s Tiger Gym on Friday night, she found the event of interest: dozens of BHS alumni talking about the careers they’ve made, and encouraging current students ”“ and the general public ”“ to pursue their passions. It was the BHS & Beyond Alumni Career Exploration Fair, and about an hour in, the gym was hopping with hope, zeal, and more than a smidgen of Tiger pride.

Speight, though, had additional motivation for being there. While certainly interested in the stories of successful graduates, the BHS junior knew of one grad she wanted to track down in particular: Elaine Watson from the Class of 1990, who is vice president of marketing and sales at Star Nail International, and a judge on “Nail’d It,” a show on the Oxygen cable network.

Camera in hand, Speight set herself the goal of interviewing Watson for her video production class. Her goal was realized.

“It was fantastic,” said Speight. “I thought it would be really fun to interview her. She’s half-famous, so I thought, ”˜That’s cool.’”

Once edited, the video may go on YouTube, or perhaps air on local television; Speight isn’t quite sure yet. But aside from the excitement of having her footage seen by an audience, Speight was impressed with the event itself, which brought together graduates from a number of different eras in the school’s history ”“ dating as far back as 1970. That’s the year current Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant graduated.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Speight. “You get to meet a lot of new people and learn new things.”

That was what Linda Verville had in mind when she created the event. A 1984 graduate, Verville envisions the expo being an annual tradition at the school, bringing together former students and showing subsequent generations what’s possible if they set a goal and stick to it.

Verville herself is the development director for the Biddeford School Department, and used her connections to solicit alumni involvement.

“I thought this would be the best way to get everyone back, and help the kids out at the same time,” she said. “I have friends who are here, and people I haven’t seen in years.”

One of those friends is Karen Stebbins, who graduated with Verville and now works as an inventory manager at L.L. Bean. Stebbins was approached this summer about attending the expo and lending her advice and wisdom; she agreed, figuring it would be a unique opportunity to help students who may not know which direction they want to take once they leave high school, she said.

“It’s a good way to get some of the high school students thinking about different career opportunities,” said Stebbins. “My advice (is to) take full advantage of all the classes that are available to them.”

Mia Shea, meanwhile, is a fairly recent graduate ”“ Class of 2010 ”“ and had Verville as a teacher when she was in school. Now an executive team leader for Target, Shea was eager to expound on the benefits of the retail industry.

“Retail is fun, fast-paced, and Target has a really supportive team,” she said. “It’s a great way to gain management experience and make some friends, too.”

The alumni advice was certainly valuable for current BHS senior Sabrina Kheang, who’ll soon have college applications to think about. Kheang said she wants to attend film school in California, and found Friday’s expo a helpful jolt of inspiration in chasing that dream.

“It’s actually a really good opportunity to find out what Biddeford can do,” she said.

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 319 or jlagasse@journaltribune.com.