A Speech by Daniel Mitchell

"...the class was not as good as I imagined, it was so much better."

My first day in work experience class I sat next to Nitay Joffe and Karl Scholtz. As Ms. Gyves wrote the agenda on the board Karl and Nitay explained that today would be an abnormal day in class. They said a normal day consisted of picking up a slice of freshly delivered pizza, a soda, then sitting around and just talking about our jobs. Being a naive underclassman, I trusted them. I sat there and imagined how great this class was going to be, how much fun I would have, and how much I would learn about other people's jobs.

The next day I told all my friends what a great class I had enrolled in, how excited I was and tried to persuade them to find jobs so they too could join this cool class. It wasn't until two weeks later that I learned the truth about the work experience class. Nitay and Karl had fooled me, there was no pizza and soda, we did not just sit around and talk, the class was not as good as I imagined, it was so much better.

I have learned so many life skills while taking this class. Health and safety guidelines to protect us on the job and prevent injury and accidents. Workers rights and labor laws to prevent discrimination and improve the work place. How important career planning is using personality and natural intelligence inventories to seek jobs that fit our skills and talents.

We spent numerous hours in class refining our interviewing skills with frequent practices. Guest speakers Jim Yang from Cold Stone Creamery and Tammy Pies, Director of Human Resources at Great America have given us new insight toward successful interviews. We have built a portfolio that includes a professional resume and reference sheet, job evaluations and our personal data sheet. Amanda Klee, Vice President from Bank of America provided the class with valuable knowledge regarding fiscal management, the value of a student loan, and the importance of good credit. As a result of her advice I have developed a plan to save a portion of my salary in an IRA for my retirement. As part of the workforce each work experience student has learned how to prepare their own taxes on the road to fiscal independence.

I would personally like to thank my parents for pushing me to achieve higher goals they knew I was capable of. Jeanie Treichel, my manager who guided me through my foray into the corporate world with complements and constructive suggestions. And I would like to thank Ms. Gyves for teaching me many life skills of which the value is far from being realized. I have learned so much from this class and will cherish the skills I have acquired that will further my career and lead to a profitable, bright future.

Speech delivered April 15, 2004

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