: I was approached some time last year by (NTB Social Policy Service Provider) William Spriggs, who's basically an outside service provider for the NTB. He said he had this great idea for an event for students. No. The event was held in 2003. However, in 2003 it was put on by adults and run by adults. There were very few partners in the endeavour. For this year, Mr. Spriggs said: 'Let's make it even better. Let's have students plan and execute the event, so it's an event for students, by students. And not only that, let's have greater community buy-in.' I've been working for quite some time on this project ? since the end of May ? along with three other executive team members and a few volunteers. The entire team has been together since June, appealing for partnerships, we've devised the budget and organised the main presentations.

We went out and got the funding, we got the actual presenters for the event ? we did everything we could just to make sure it has as great an impact as possible.

: Yes. I'm actually studying the Arts and Business programme. I started out in Science and just realised that wasn't for me ? at least not just right now. So I decided to switch to Business and get either into human resources or marketing. I would have graduated this past May but I decided at the last minute to switch to Business. So I have about an extra year, year and a half to complete the Business programme. Yes. I'm looking to get a communications degree because then I can take the human resources and marketing and specialise ? have a major and a minor. I'm considering Bryant University in Rhode Island or Ryder College in New Jersey. He spoke at my graduation ? in 2003 I graduated from CedarBridge Academy ? and I guess he's followed my performance. I've been involved in debate and different things. So he kind of had seen me.

He said: 'I've seen you do different things. I spoke at your graduation. I think you're a positive, pro-active person. You need to get involved in this.' That was towards the end of last year and in the new year, we followed it up with just a couple of e-mails and telephone calls: 'How are things going? Are you still interested in having me involved?'

: Actually it was just supposed to be students working part-time and giving input but once we realised all it would take, it turned into a full-time job for the four of us ? the executive team members.

Yes. It's a real world skills presentation. As the title would suggest, it's about (empowering) young people with real world skills. What we've recognised is that today's young people have a lot of opportunities to travel abroad, they have a lot of work opportunities to intern at different places.

So while they're more savvy or more worldly than past generations, we're finding that they don't have the professional skills that are necessary ? the right attitude say, or their resum?s aren't up to par. In previous generations, people got their education, they went into the workforce and they learned these skills as they went along.

With our young people, because they're being propelled into these opportunities so quickly, at such an early age, it's necessary for them to have those professional skills right away. So the workshop was planned basically just to fulfil a need in the community. To make sure that our young people are as sharp as they can be and can compete globally.

We have three major components ? education, entertainment and empowerment. The education aspect, of course, is the real world skills. We teach such things as marketing yourself, how to have a mastermind alliance.

The morning section is will be spent working on professional development. The afternoon will work on your power team, making sure that you surround yourself with positive influences ? so that's the education.

As far as entertainment goes, in planning, we had to consider our target market ? high school students through to recent college graduates. We didn't want to just have them in a seminar all day ? then, the interest is lost. They get tired. They're always sitting down.

So we decided to supplement the educational aspect with a few entertainment pieces to keep the day really exciting and entertaining. We'll have a few giveaways and energisers. If the crowd starts to look like they getting a bit weary we'll know it's time for a giveaway or suggest (everyone) get up and do an energiser. It should be a really good day.

That's our final aspect ? empowerment. We recognise that this event was first conducted in 2003, that we missed 2004. We want to make it an annual event but also, during the school months we want to have mini-workshops for the schools.

Once we have the students registered, we'll compile a database ? on the registration forms they have to list their current employer, all their contact information and their career interests. With that, what we can do is we can look at all our students and say: 'Here are the ones interested in marketing. Here are all the students interested in electrical work or in plumbing ? whatever their interests are.'

Say it's time for scholarship applications to go in, we can have a workshop for students. We can make them understand the importance of getting their application in on time. We can make sure they have all the essential components ? this is how you conduct yourself in the interview.

We're not looking to be like the typical conference where they give you great ideas and at the end shake your hand, say have a nice life and hope you can integrate all the skills that they've given you on that one day.

We're saying: 'Let's just give them the basics on July 25 and then we'll have mini-workshops to meet their other needs and to keep the momentum going.' And then, hopefully next year the (main workshop) will be even bigger and better.

We talked a lot with our partners. They've looked at different things over the years. Many said resum?s are not always up to par. They mentioned the attitude of some of the young people. We also took a few things from the previous event but we really just went looking at what the community's needs are.

That's why it's so important to have the mini-workshops. We're only going to be able to address so much next week Monday.

So we're saying let's start with broad basics. No matter what you want to do, where you want to go in life, you should have a positive attitude. You should know how to surround yourself with the right people. Then at the mini-workshops, we can really target and focus the workshops to tailor-meet the students' needs.

It's definitely been an experience. It's not your typical summer job. We've done quite a bit but I'd say just the exposure to the corporate world has been a great experience. We're going in and making presentations to their boards and directors and CEOs.

That aspect, the professionalism, has been a real eye-opener. We've had to be able to articulate our thoughts. We've had to practice ? we've had lots of different leadership workshops to make sure that we were capable of going out and representing the NTB.

It's been an ongoing process. We had one on professional basics, one on communication skills ? workshops to ensure that when we go out and we put a face to the public, we're effective. But even working with the team has been a very different experience in that in other (work environments) there's mainly adults.

We're pretty much a team within ourselves. We have Mr. Spriggs, but he's pretty much there just to outline our days. He'll come in in the morning and say, 'These are the main objectives', but then we'll have to work with one another.

And we have to, pretty much, be cohesive. It's not enough to say: 'I don't like you so I'm not going to work with you.' In a regular setting, you might be able to get by with that, but we're all we have. So it's been excellent for team building. Learning how to work with one another, to work around certain things. It's definitely been a great experience.

Oh, definitely. We're going into these companies and it's almost like the best interview you could have. You're not going in and asking for a job, you're going in and saying this is something that I'm doing that's pro-active, that's positive.

So you've already got yourself out there. We're making very valuable contact with these people, with individuals who are movers and shakers within their industries. So it's definitely been good in that respect as well.

That would be a great response. But realistically, especially considering that they are young people, we have to give them more than that. We can't just say here's all these great ideas, you're changed ? in a day.

That's why we're having the workshops. We want it to be as fulfilling a day as possible. We want young people to go away and say that was great, now give me more. That's the response we're looking to get. We're looking to make sure that we assess and meet those needs but also to show them that the NTB is here as a resource.

My experience with the NTB, is that they have a lot of programmes for college-level students and non-traditional students. This event actually takes their scope a lot further ? down to the high-school level students.

I think the NTB is a very valuable resource which can be used to assist young people interested in getting training and career advice. However, I think the influence is less prevalent than it could be ? people aren't aware of it as a resource. But they definitely have programmes in place looking to eradicate that ? so that young people are aware of the opportunities that the NTB provides.

Definitely. By having this event, people who hadn't thought about the NTB before are like: 'Okay. The National Training Board is putting on an event for me to make sure that I'm as polished and as professional as I can be.' The Department of Labour & Training is going to allow their students to attend and we've also been talking with our partner firms ? getting registration forms to them ? so their students will come. We've done what we could to make people aware ? we put a flier in the newspaper, we've had some commercials running.

So for anyone else who's interested, the best thing would probably be to contact the National Training Board and they'll let them know how best to proceed with registration. It's going to be a great day for young people to come out and learn about these skills, to understand that this resource is there for them so in the future, they can seek out the National Training Board and these mediums so they can better themselves.