Devan Knight is a baseball player who dreams of a job in pro sports: ballplayer, coach, umpire.

If an athletics career doesn’t work out, the 16-year-old Lisbon High School sophomore would like to become a professional musician. A hard rock fan, he’s been playing the guitar for a year.

“Those are my two favorite careers at this point,” he said.

Knight is hoping to get some insight into his choices on Wednesday. He will be among 1,400 sophomores from six area high schools to attend the annual career fair at Central Maine Community College in Auburn. Eighty-five businesspeople are scheduled to talk about 70 careers.

Photography will be big. So will cosmetology, music, forensic science and culinary arts. Like Knight, most students signed up for the arts and sciences and for careers they thought would be fun.

High-paying desk jobs got few takers.

“I want to do something I would love to do,” said Knight, who will shun insurance and public relations in favor of sessions on music and athletic training.

Guidance counselors say creative jobs and vocational work have been popular with sophomores since the first career day seven years ago. Generally, students like the fact that those careers allow them to express themselves, work with their hands and help people.

And then there are the jobs glamorized by TV and movies.

“When we started, kids were really hooked on Free Willy.’ Every kid wanted to be a marine biologist,” said Debbie Baggs, a guidance counselor at Lewiston High School.

This year, thanks to the hit CBS drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” one of the most popular choices is forensic science. There were 128 requests for the four sessions, which will be led by a Lewiston police officer. Each 25-minute session was capped at 30 students.

Amanda Moore, a 15-year-old student at Leavitt Area High School in Turner, didn’t get into a forensic science session. Instead, she got three of her other choices: medical technology, alternative medicine and medical lab technician.

“I want to go into some kind of medical career because I always found the human body kind of cool,” Moore said.

Medical careers often rank near the middle with sophomores. So do careers in media, law and business.

Careers in finance, public relations and management rank near the bottom

There were 217 requests for photography – the top choice for career day – but only 15 requests for the session on being a stockbroker. So few students wanted to know about insurance and security that those presentations were canceled.

Said Chip Morrison, president of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce, “We haven’t found a way to let kids know about the excitement of some of the less visible careers.”

BREAKOUT>>>

Career choices of area high school sophomores

Most popular:

Photography

Cosmetology

Music

Auto repair

Child care

Forensic science

Law enforcement

Military

Culinary arts

Nursing

Least popular:

Insurance

Community college (attending and careers at)

Public relations

Building maintenance/facilities management

Office management/employee training

Women in nontraditional careers

Engineering technician

Elderly care services

Health-care management

Stockbroker/financial planning