Sunshine Optimist Club doing its part to help local youth

Members of the Sunshine Optimist Club are doing their part to give youth who may not otherwise have the opportunity, a chance to make it in the working world.

Club Member Jon Martineau, who serves as coordinator for the Career Guidance Workshop held recently at the St. George Secondary School, explained to The Barbados Advocate why that school has been chosen for the programme which is not run in other schools, even as it goes into its fifth year. He maintained that club members have recognised the need to give the school and by extension its youth a lift, so they have the opportunity to thrive, just as much as other youth.

“The career guidance workshop was borne out of an idea several years ago, where we looked around at schools and knew there was an opportunity to do something, because the constant clamour from employers in Barbados, is that these youngsters are leaving school and they are not as prepared as they could be, as it relates to the world of work,” Martineau explained.

“...As it relates to the school that we were going to choose, this choice was a relatively easy choice – because of the stigma attached to the school in the past. We could have easily gone into an older secondary school where some of us members are alumni, but we decided no, we want to step out of that comfort zone and come specifically to the St. George Secondary School and help them during that transition phase, from this stigma that this school has developed unfortunately over the years. So that is what brought us here,” he maintained.

“So this is now our fifth year that we are doing the programme and all of the coordinators and presenters are people who have that similar vision, where they want to give these young people an opportunity to really prepare them for the world of work,” he added.

The school leavers undertaking the pro-gramme meanwhile are exposed to key topics such as application writing, interview etiquette, time management, conflict resolution and health and wellness, amongst others. (RSM)