My Career Day Experience at Brookwood Junior High School

 On Monday, March 24^th, I spoke to students at the 2014 Brookwood Junior High School Career Day. This event was sponsored by Brookwood and Reclaim a Youth (RAY) of Illinois. It was pretty cool.

There were three 25-minute sessions with eight to 10 students in each. The students in my group were mostly creative – graphic designers, illustrators, authors, broadcast journalists, musicians and actresses. I also had future veterinarians, veterans and lawyers. One young man was a “You-Tuber.” I mean, this guy was serious about YouTube. I hope he figures out how to get paid soon; Google has A LOT of money.

I was pleased to learn that only five or six of them wanted to be NBA players, and most of them had Plan Bs.

However, I could have done cartwheels when they told me that they use Wattpad and Quotev to read and write books. They mentioned those sites more than social networking sites.

This is my third year speaking at this event, but it was my first year being sure of who I am and what I do. I still don’t have a good 30-second pitch but I do have published works in magazines and on major blog and writing sites; my book is available for sale on Amazon; and my sites have a targeted audience and are being positioned for profits.

My main messages to young people were:

• You have to work HARD to get what you want
• Get paid for what you do – NOW!
• Do what you love
• The two hardest parts of any project are starting and finishing
• Find mentors now
• Focus on one venture before doing something else (I’m still learning this)
• Education is the key to success

Two students asked me questions that threw me off.

Conversation with Student #1

Student #1: What is your plan B?

Me: Writing for businesses

Student #1: What if that doesn’t work?

Me: It will

Student #1: How do you know?

Me: As long as companies have something to sell, they are going to need help reaching out to their customers.

Conversation with Student #2

Student #2: What part of your life would you write about?

(Pause)

(Scratching my head)

(Even longer pause)

Me: The period of my life when I was afraid. I was a chicken and don’t know why.

(Bell rings)

I was still floored after that question because no one has ever asked me that question before. And although I have given it some thought, I had not given it serious thought. I think I may do so now.

Now, I did throw them off when a young man (aka Student #1) asked me what kind of music I listen to. I told him that I love 80s music. They weren’t ready. I know they thought I was younger than I really am.

Overall, it was a good day. I had a chance to present to my future and meet new professionals in all industries. I’m looking forward to next year.

 

Images: www.brookwood.s-cook.k12.il.us