Prepping the young to build.
A local sorority is hosting its annual youth leadership event at the Brooklyn Scholars Charter School on March 10. Every year members of Eta Nu Sigma of the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority bring together about a dozen speakers to discuss career opportunities with young students. Now in its third year, the event, which aims to engage children towards building an interest in their future and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is now adding more speakers in artistic fields, said co-organizer.
“This is one of our signature programs where we provide a lot of career exploration opportunities for our youth, and it used to be just STEM, but his year is the first year we’re opening it up to arts because that’s another area we want our youth to explore and to get more get into,” said Frances Bates.
Professionals who build careers in various fields such as engineering, robotics, entrepreneurship, law enforcement, publishing, and dancing will be in attendance at the event to chat with the students about their pathways, added Bates.
“We align different people in those careers to come out, so our youth can come and educate themselves,” she said.
Set up as a career fair, there will different tables of different professionals there to inform the children interested in a given field to ask any questions.
The event is popular with the community because it provides students and parents with a one-stop fair to learn everything about career paths.
“We expose a lot of great information for kids and parents, and for this is great for the parent because they have the opportunity to find this information in such a hands on way,” said Bates. “They can have conversations with people in the field, and the steps on how they need to continue after high school.”
During the event, there will also be a women’s empowerment session in conjunction with the event. This is a chance for the parents to get advice on issues pertaining to them, such as lifestyle, health issues, nutrition, and stress management workshop.
Bates said preparing for the future was vital for todays youth, and a major mission of the sorority was to be a leading force in spurring their interests. In doing so, one of the activities at the event will be vision board-making, where kids will be tasked to looking at life in the coming years.
“You never can get enough information with the environment we live in today,” she said. “We want them to see where they see themselves five years from now and keep them engaged.”
“Creating Connections: The Building Blocks of Leadership” at Brooklyn Scholars Charter School [2635 Linden Blvd. between Hemlock Street and Autumn Avenue in East New York, 1-877-ETANU-22, www.etanu
