Our Journey to Post-Graduation – Careers Day

20 March 2023Dara M, Alexandra ‘25

On Saturday, March 4th, 21 Brentwood alumni walked onto the campus that was once their school and home. These 21 graduates arrived as guest speakers for Brentwood’s annual Careers Day, a wonderful opportunity to pass on the knowledge from alumni to our current students. Students attended two speaker sessions of their choice, a Careers Day Fair and Old Brentonians Awards Assembly. Listening to an alumni speak about their journey after graduation provides students with a deeper insight into their own future planning.

The speakers took us through their journey from post secondary to finding their career. With a wide spectrum of jobs out in the world, our Careers Day team had chosen a variety of different career paths to present to us. Tedra G, Mackenzie ‘24, Environmental Advocacy student who helped recruit speakers, takes us through her process: “I thought it would be essential to promote and emphasize environmentally-focused careers to our future-shaping students – which led me to looking on Brentonian Connect for candidates that checked the box. I managed to narrow it down to a handful to invite.” The result was amazing as Tedra was successful in inviting Luke Damron, Tesla engineer, and James Larson, CEO of E-Zinc, two amazing Brentwood graduates who have gone on to use their intelligence for the greater good.

In addition to explaining how they obtained their current job position, the speakers also talked about the future of their career and what it could lead to. Telling one’s personal story can have a meaningful impact as it showed us that their pathway to success wasn’t just a straight line – everybody has their own unique path to reach the finish line. Ms Beausoleil, Career Education Coordinator, explains, “It is important that students understand it isn’t just a straight line to your future success. Your career curve is a unique journey of how you get from post graduation to exploring different majors & jobs to finally finding your career.” Many of us don’t know what we plan to do in our future yet. Therefore, it is reassuring to hear that others have explored different majors, universities, and jobs to find a career that they are passionate about.

Following up to the speaker sessions, there is a Careers Fair, featuring a booth for each speaker and their story. This allowed students to check out other careers that they did not attend sessions for – or chat with a speaker they had heard. With a whole day’s worth of networking opportunities, students are encouraged to reach out to speakers for personal mentoring. Student hosts were also there assisting the speakers throughout the day. This includes eating breakfast and lunch with their guest and helping them set up.

Carys C, Allard ‘25 expressed, “I enjoyed hosting the speakers and getting to know them more personally. It was quite interesting to find out what life is like after Brentwood. This opportunity provided me with meaningful advice on how to get into their industry.” Being a student host gives you a great volunteering experience as well as a chance to talk to the alumni and ask any questions you may have.

Our future is an underlying puzzle waiting to be put together. As we make our way through the rest of high school, we will be putting that puzzle together, one piece at a time. Rest assured, it is not a task to be completed before graduation. In fact, we may be putting it together as we navigate our way through life, experimenting with our likes and comforts to find the passion we have inside of us.

On behalf of the students, I want to thank Ms Beausoleil, Ms Yannick & Ms Kowan for organizing this event, as well as all of our speakers for taking us along the path to our future careers.

Dara M, Alexandra ‘25

Where Students Choose To Be