w  rd 2 the woss

As school becomes harder and harder to navigate and as applying to colleges and universities becomes more competitive than ever, children as young as grade eight are pressured into deciding what they want to do with their life. In a child’s eighth year of schooling, they are whisked away to a career center where they are bombarded with binders full of possible occupations and they take tests to determine their aptitudes for certain jobs. This time marks the beginning of the anxiety towards their future and the feeling of being completely lost.

 

    On Thursday, March 22 at the Burlington Convention Centre, the Halton Industry Education Council held its annual Women in Careers Coaches Dinner.  The objective of this banquet was to help alleviate some of the angst centered around both academic and life choices by showing the attending young women, grades nine to twelve, that “careers are a journey of discovery; the ebbs and flows will take you in many different the directions.”  The theme of the night: “just because you wander, doesn’t mean you are lost”, reflected this idea thoroughly.  

 

    The night began at 5:30 with a buffet dinner, followed by a succession of seven inspirational speeches from a variety of successful women.  Intermittent with these speeches, the young girls were given time to compare and contrast with the mentors at their tables. At each table, there were four secondary school students and four mentors.  These coaches specialized in industries such as education, transportation, arborist and public safety.  With access to such skilled role models, working in such a variety of professions, it allowed the young women to understand that there are so many avenues in which they can explore in the future. The atmosphere of the affair was excitingly empowering, as everyone was surrounded by such successful women, in a society where feminism is everywhere and inspires people all over the world.  Everyone who attended had polar opposite interests, but could somehow all relate, as they came to understand that nothing in life is finite.  

 

    An overwhelming amount of information and inspiration was taken away from the event through the ideas and experiences of the distinguished speakers.  They demonstrated and taught how the career path you are originally set on can change. Every single mentor and speaker had a long history of career changes, but each one had given each opportunity an honest try. Many of the speakers also preached the exploration of trades.  In the next few years, the majority of baby boomers will be retiring, leaving over 80,000 trade jobs available for Canadians.  It is important to not limit oneself for fear of living up to the impossible academic standards that are formed by society.  The world needs trades and prospective students should not compare themselves to anyone, because everyone is unique and the archetypes of intelligence can only limit one’s full potential.

 

    One consistent idea throughout all seven speeches, regardless of the speaker’s occupation was that “the world is your oyster”.  Even though it is an overused, and cliché phrase, it has a substantial meaning.  Reaching one’s dreams takes effort, and in order to accomplish it, they must put themselves forward and do it on their own terms. When the motivational speakers were asked what they wished they could have told their teenage selves, they responded as followed:  "you do not need to decide in high school what you are going to do for the rest of your life, don’t give up thinking that there are no other options and take a broader range of courses in high school so you have a better idea of which postsecondary pathway you would like to explore".

 

    One of the most inspirational stories was that of Shannon Cruz, a news reporter, and morning show host. In high school, she felt lost; when asked about her future plans, she could never respond in a conclusive way.  The truth was, she had no idea. Terrified that she would miss out on important life experiences, she decided to attend the Women in Careers Coaches Dinner in her graduating year.  While listening to the speeches, a certain speaker caught her attention.  She was a journalist for CP-24 and Shannon realized that she had some sort of passion for journalism. The following summer, after connecting with the journalist from the Women in Careers event, she ended up shadowing another reporter at the same news station.  The position revealed that she really did enjoy that particular field of work. Eventually, Shannon enrolled in a journalism program at Ryerson University, minoring in a political sciences program

 

She thought that she had figured it all out by that time, but her first day of Ryerson was an utter disaster.  Again, she realized that she was the only one that had no idea what she was doing with her future.  Yes, she was pursuing a job in news, but what kind of news was the question she needed to answer for herself. Determined not to become lost like she had in high school, Shannon interned and volunteered until she had a better sense of what news “category” she was interested in.  Finally, she graduated with a degree in journalism and began applying to jobs at news stations so that she could pay off her student loans.

 

Cruz applied to British Columbia, Yorkton and Saskatchewan television and was not accepted at any of them.  Feeling rejected, she bought a ticket to Europe, in an attempt to travel away from her sorrows but couldn’t get on the plane.  She felt it was her duty to exhaust every aspect to attain closure on her interests. In a feeble attempt to do just that, Shannon applied to Winnipeg news and got the job.  She was employed as a sports reporter at the television station. She was satisfied for a brief time but quickly became bored and found herself wanting more variety out of her job.  Shannon then began to cover everything to try to find a better and more fascinating career path, whilst still remaining in the journalism field.  After spending time waiting for promotions that got her virtually nowhere, she started to explore other news outlets such as the morning talk show that filmed across the hall.  She did a great deal of research and spoke to some of her colleagues and discovered that the morning show covered every possible type of news.  Ecstatic over her revelation, she respectfully resigned from her job and got a position as the host of a morning talk show.

 

As a speaker at the 2018 Women in Careers Coaches Dinner, Shannon Cruz hoped that she could inspire even just one young woman like she had been inspired years ago.  In the finale of the dinner, the young and now thoroughly motivated students were left with a closing quote: “You can change the world, let’s see you do it".