Think Big for Kids Summer Career Exploration Program 

Think Big for Kids Summer Career Exploration Program took place with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast Junior Staff teens to get them interested in their career and explore their future career paths. The program was held two times per week over the course of seven weeks and included workshops and field trips. 

The Think Big for Kids Journey 

Our journey at Think Big includes three pillars: Career Exploration, Mentoring Program, and job Readiness & Placement. The goal was to introduce these ideas to the students and create a conversation about the future, career interests and make students aware of different industries and jobs. 

Career Exploration 

The career exploration portion of the program is hoped to help encourage and drive our students to start thinking about their future in the work field. Our career exploration program is a great way to prepare our students for what is next after school. We hope to prepare the students at Think Big for Kids so when they are making the transfer into the next chapter, they are not as overwhelmed as other students outside our organization may be. 

We use many activities to interest the kids in career exploration. Since this topic may scare or not be a concern to our students, we want to try and keep them as engaged as possible so they can learn as much as possible. Some of the activities we host are goal-setting workshops, vision board workshops, and field trips. We use these opportunities to make teaching fun. Our field trips are a great way to introduce students to the real workplace and give them the hands-on experience they will always remember.  

Pictures from two of our most recent field trips 

Mentoring Program 

Part two of the workshop focused on mentoring, a skill that means a lot to the Think Big Foundation. Our mentoring program is focused on helping high school students stay on the right path. Students are assigned a mentor to help them through their high school years. The mentors are there to help guide them and offer help when needed. We hope to be a helping hand from the big transition of school to the workforce. We encourage students to explore career paths even after school, to make sure they are happy and feel like they belong. We want you to think BIG about what you want to do in your career, not just get a job when you graduate from school.  

Job Readiness & Placement 

To let the teens be involved, we created a reverse job fair for them to participate in. The students worked on a Career Board to present at the Reverse Career Fair to Think Big volunteers. Each student had their own table to be able to create an introduction about them. Think Big’s partner companies were included in the fair and they were all able to learn more about our teens, creating a personal experience for everyone. Sadly, the Career Fair had to be canceled due to Covid, but the kids still had a great time creating their boards and sharing with their peers and Club Directors. The career fair was helpful for getting the teens out of their comfort zone and helping them learn about new career fields. 

Overall  

The summer program introduction for our junior staffers was a creative way to bring everyone together and educate each other over common goals, creating a successful future for both our careers and our lives. We created a conversation for each teen to think about and help each other get ready for our futures.