Big Thoughts

Think Big for Kids held its first ever virtual Summer Career Planning Program which came to a successful close last week.  25 students, ranging from 8^th – 12^th graders, from the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast participated in the six-week program.    The goals of the Think Big Summer Career Planning Program was to offer teens at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast an opportunity to explore different career paths and gain skills such as resume writing and interviewing that will help them be successful when they apply to jobs in the future.

After participating in the Think Big for Kids Summer Career Planning Program 100% of students said they have an idea of what career they want to pursue after high school and 70% of students agreed or strongly agreed to having a better idea of what they want to do when they graduate as result of participating in the Think Big Career Planning Program.   Throughout the summer students had the chance to hear presentations from and talk to a variety of companies including ReliaQuest, Nielsen, BrandSafway, Tampa General Hospital, SOFWERX, and Roger West.  Our program concluded with a Virtual Career Fair with our partners at Junior Achievement where students talked with an additional 8 companies including Duke Energy, the National Aviation Academy and the Straz Center.   Think Big strives to expose students to a variety of industries and potential career paths no matter if they want to go directly to work after high school, to trade school, or to pursue a college degree.

During our Summer Career Planning Program we also offered students workshops to help them build the skills they will need to be successful in applying to jobs in the future.  NextPath Career Partners held a resume and interviewing workshop for students and students even got to participate in Mock Interviews via Zoom with NextPath Recruiters.  Mock interviews were overwhelmingly student’s favorite session of the summer.   100% of students agreed or strongly agreed they gained new knowledge and skills by participating in the Think Big for Kids Summer Career Planning Program that will help them in the future.

We are thankful to our partners who helped make the Think Big for Kids Summer Career Planning Program successful and to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast for helping to facilitate the virtual programming with their students.

Participants in our Virtual Career Fair smile for a picture to close out our Summer Program with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast.