Graham Middle School Students Responses

New Insights and Outlooks on Career Choices

for Graham Middle School Students 

As a follow on to Nortel small group career conversations with Graham Middle School eighth graders, students were asked to tell what they took away from the Nortel teams who met with them at their school. 

• They are not that much older than they are.

• The experiences shared opened the students' eyes to the fact that they can overcome many situations and still be successful if they focus on their education.

• They were very surprised to hear from professionals that have been successful early on in their lives/careers although:
  •  they did not come from affluent backgrounds
  • they too had to deal with personal situations e.g. financial, single parents, language barriers, not knowing what you want to do. 
  • They had faced the same problems the students are dealing with right now…this was a real eye opener to the students!
• Many said that they want to visit Nortel and learn more about what we do.

• I don't need to know what I want to do right now. There is time for me to decide later after high school and even into college.
• I had thought about dropping out but after hearing the Nortel Presenter I know now that my background does not have to hold me back and I need to focus on school.
• I need to diversify my plans so that I have a fallback plan for a career just in case my first plan does not work out.
• I want to work for Nortel.
• Not being rich and not having two parents to support me does not limit what I can do.
• I need to take a variety of high school and college courses so I have a variety of opportunities.
• Knowing more than one language is a good thing when you are looking for job opportunities.
• I want to visit Nortel and learn more about what they do.
• The Nortel presenters really opened my eyes to opportunities not far from Graham.
• I want to be a manager at Nortel.
• Professionals make a lot of money and that's what I want to do.
• A diverse background makes you more valuable.

• Knowing how to do things like cooking and taking care of yourself can help you be successful when you go to college and afterwards.

• Focus on things you enjoy but understand how education can get you there.