Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending an "Inspiring Futures" event at an Intermediate school, which is similar to a middle school but with only two year levels of Year 7 and 8 students. It reminded me of the Intermediate school I attended many years ago, which I also really enjoyed.
There were about 300 students at the school and I was at a careers event whereby the students needed to guess what five guest speakers occupations were (including myself as an author/illustrator) although teaching is also my job.
It was an interesting morning as I arrived around 8.45am after a 45-minute drive to the school. After we introduced ourselves to each other, I found it very interesting in the careers that we each had, which included:
- an environmental engineer
- an economist at a bank
- a costume hire business owner
- a people-centred designer
- an author/illustrator (me)
We met the teacher in charge of the event, who was also the Deputy Principal, and followed the student councillors into the hall, where half the school gathered in their class rows, which numbered over 100 students.
They were then asked to consider 20 yes/no questions that had been pre-prepared to ask us. The student counsellors chose who got mic time, and these were some of the questions included with my responses in brackets:
- do you work with animals? (no)
- are you a business owner? (yes)
- does your job involve overseas travel? (yes: sometimes) i.e. book launch in Samoa or taking books to sell there, or American Samoa
- does your job involve making something? (yes)
We were taken to the boardroom while students deliberated on guessing the jobs or work involved in each of our roles. We then returned to the assembly hall, and students were given the opportunity to guess each of our jobs/work.
We were all asked to bring along props to assist as clues. They guessed the engineer as he was wearing a high-vis vest. The bank worker, they guessed, because she wore a bank logo T-shirt, but they weren't able to guess her actual occupation within the bank. They didn't guess the costume hire business owner, as she was wearing an amazing overcoat, and they thought that she was an actress or magician. They definitely weren't able to guess the people-centred designer, although they guessed the company that she worked for with her Business logo prop.
When it was my turn, they guessed that I was an artist based on the markers I was shown, but couldn't make the connection with the laptop (those were my props). I then had to reveal to them my occupation, and then all the clues made sense to them.
We were then dismissed and had a cup of tea in the staff room, where we got to meet other staff members. I also had the opportunity to talk with a Māori teacher, and we recognised mutual acquaintances who worked at the Wānanga where I teach.
After the break, we were ushered back to the hall for group rotations, and I spoke to around 8-10 small groups of students. Some were interested, some were not, some asked some very good questions. It was also nice to meet some Samoan students, and I encouraged them in their studies, as well as other students.
All in all, it was another neat experience, and I'm also glad that I was able to share a quick backstory about enjoying art and reading books when I was young. I'm glad that all that hard work paid off as I'm able to support others in their learning journeys and encourage authenticity too...
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