Our business has been hosting a 16 year old local student for the most part of this year, every Friday, on a ‘work experience’ arrangement.
‘A‘ as we will call him, is on a soccer scholarship at one of the districts’ very good quality private schools, and he plays both junior and senior soccer for one of the WA National Premier League Clubs.
‘A’ has won our hearts with his positive and friendly manner, and his willingness to be part of our team, and keenness to learn. He has strong ambitions in life, one of which is to see if he can become a professional soccer player at some level.
Given the positive feedback our office has received from our involvement with ‘A’, we decided to expand this program and run a two day Workshop, which we entitled “An Introduction to the Finance Industry”, and invite some other local young people to attend.
The class of 2017, as we have now called them attended our office for two days in mid-June, and successfully undertook, and contributed to the workshop.
Some of the topics covered included a summary of the legislative controls which the finance world must comply with, various alternative finance products, some financial analysis and calculation modelling, and some actual live case studies of business finance issues.
It was a rewarding and fulfilling two days for me, and our staff, and we also believe from the feedback we have since received, that it was really worthwhile for the participants as well.
These students may or may not ever work in the finance sector, but whatever happens into the future, I am sure that some of the knowledge they acquired during the workshop will be of benefit to them whatever they finally do.
Let me tell you about the other two participants, who were’ J’, another 16-year-old local boy, who is in year 10 at a good local school, and ‘S’, who is a 19-year-old local girl studying Commerce/Law, in second year, at Curtin University.
Both ‘J ‘, and ‘S’, just like ‘A’, are all studying hard, playing sport, are ambitious, well spoken, confident, well read, knowledgeable, prepared to do part time work, work experience or whatever is going to give them more practical life experience, and consequently, all make solid contributions to their family and home life.
All three of these students are fantastic examples of the quality of young people coming through society today.
We hear so much negativity about today’s youth on a daily basis, in the media, and I regularly hear more senior generations lament that they don’t know where the world is heading.
What I would encourage all of us to do is to reach out to today’s youth, talk to them, listen to their opinions, thoughts, and particularly, their concerns.
I think that many of us ‘oldies’ may be surprised at the quality of people coming through this generation…, if we take the time to get to know them.
We all know that future generations are going to face some major issues, which even today, are causing them grave concerns.
I refer to global issues like poverty, climate change, terrorism, world peace, social media domination, mental health, localised issues (e.g. employment and possible home ownership), and more generalised issues like the changing workplace due to technology. These are massive challenges that young people are going to have to deal with as their lives unfold.
Sadly, as I see it, when they look towards our world’s political and social leaders for inspiration, they are left flat and disappointed, as solving problems seems to take second place behind ‘ leaders’ self needs and self-preservation.
I am hopeful that this generation coming through into leadership roles in the next decade or so will do a better job of problem solving that our current leaders are today.
So, my advice to all of us, is to embrace the beauty of today’s youth – acknowledge their intellect, respect their opinions, give them a regular good ‘listening to ‘, and see how much positivity together we can create.
We all need more positivity in our lives, and I believe that todays’ younger generations can provide that spark of hope for us all.
I think many of us would be surprised at the outcomes, if society could just embrace some positivity regarding this.
That’s my thoughts,
Muzza from Warnbro