08.18.2021
Treehouse Youth Find Answers for “What’s Next”
While the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to impact summer programming, youth are still looking to find the answer to the age-old question, “what’s next?” We hosted our What’s Next event for the second summer in a row to help expose young adults to career and life skills.
This year’s offerings spanned many industries and practical aspects of growing up. The 8 activities and panels included a 2-day coding camp, resume-building and interviewing, a financial literacy class and information on college and securing housing. We also hosted experts to discuss medical, hands-on and technical career paths.
In total, 47 of our youth attended the event series, and 23 community partners were involved to help us provide these varied workshops. The busiest panels were our sessions on resume and mock interviews, along with the one focusing on apprenticeship/vocational and medical careers.
Our hope was to provide an introduction to each topic that would allow youth to dig in further if they found interest. For example, a student could attend an event and learn that they would like to know more about nursing. They can then follow up with a Treehouse Career Exposure Opportunity request for an informational interview. Another student could attend an apprenticeship event and learn that that they aren’t so interested in engineering. Both are wins, in which a student is slowly narrowing a pathway to follow.
In response to this event, our youth had some thoughts to share. Answering a question about why they attended the event, one youth responded, “To learn more about how to find a job and what I need to do in order to get that job.”
Another of our youth had knowledge to share after the interview session: “I learned that you really need to think about your answers and be honest during an interview.”
All in all, we appreciated the engagement of our youth and community partners, and we look forward to next year’s event!
Looking for a way to get involved? Consider hosting a back-to-school donation drive, making a monetary donation, purchasing items from our wish list or volunteering to support youth as they enter the new school year!
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About the Author
Linsey is the Marketing and Communications Intern at Treehouse. She is a graduate student at Seattle Pacific University, where she is studying to become a Marriage and Family Therapist with a focus on adolescents and young adults.