Team Captains got an early start on their futures this past Friday at the second Take the Lead Retreat of the year, hosted at Grainger’s incredible facilities in Lake Forest. After a long bus ride from the city, Captains arrived on Grainger’s beautiful campus, which is complete with a running path, cafeterias, and enough meeting spaces to fit a small town. After a brief introduction inside of Grainger’s gorgeous auditorium space, Captains split into small teams and headed to group activities, where they focused on motivation and self-esteem, particularly as it relates to their future careers.
Grainger volunteers provided insight on their own career paths and how they ended up in their current positions. Students learned about accounting, project management, global business development, and talent acquisition. They were blown away learning all the responsibilities of the volunteers, particularly the size of the budgets ($250 million is a lot of money).
After hearing about other’s careers, the Captains had a chance to think about their own paths to professional life. Future careers varied from architects to lawyers to neurologists. Evan, a 5th grader from Ward Elementary, detailed his career path to becoming a neurologist. Alexis, a 5th grader from Kozminski, talked about the strengths she possessed to help her become a doctor. Joseph, a 6th grade student from Libby Elementary, outlined how he would become an artist. They then reflected on these career choices in a letter to their future selves, writing words of encouragement, praise, and motivation.
Captains left the campus with a clearer vision of their future and what they will need to do to make it a reality. A big shout out to all the Grainger volunteers, especially Cynthia Jones and Enrique Juarez for all their help in coordinating the event over the past few months, and a huge thank you to Grainger’s Latino Business Resource Group for supporting the event and providing an amazing opportunity for our students!
