Webster, NY

4:28 PM

It has been many years since I was in 8th grade. I wonder back to what I would’ve thought if there was some guy standing in front of us with a power point talking about how he quit his well paying job to travel the country to interview people so he could find out the right job for him. I think back to me and my long mullet cut and my unlaced Reebok high top sneakers. Would I have listened to someone telling me to match my talents and personality to my job? Would I have processed the idea that I was going to probably spend 84,000 hours of my life at work?

I don’t know the answers. But there I was at Willink Middle School in Webster, NY today, on Career Day. In the library, power point running, remote control paging up and down, and the kids staring at me. Most of them. Others gazed all around. Another drew on the girl’s arm next to him. It was probably not the ideal time for me to be there, since it was the two periods just before they were going on Spring Break for a week, but I didn’t decide that. In any talk, you focus on the people that are listening and are trying to get what you say. That may be 100% of the people or it may be 10% of the people, but that is why you do it, so people can learn from your experiences. So now I am back at the office, still on the high that comes from a public speaking event. The guidance counselors seemed to enjoy it. I am told the superintendent even commented positively on it. And I could tell some of the kids followed and listened. This is probably not my ideal target audience, but if one kid got something out of it, it was well worth it.

A lot of my memories from 8th grade popped into my head today. Paper football games at the lunch table with my friends. Basketball team drama. Girl drama. There is always girl drama. My first fight. My first dance. Being exposed to but not participating in cigarettes, sex, and alcohol for the first time. Heavy metal music. 8th grade. A long time ago, but not that long.

The kids from today are just starting on their journey. As we ended our session, I had them write down on a piece of paper what they wanted to do for a career and why. I then had them fold it up and seal it in an envelope. They gave them to Mr. Montemaro who will put the envelopes in their file. They will get them back and open them when they are juniors in high school. I wonder what they wrote. I wonder what they will say when they read it in a few years. I wonder what I would’ve written down when I was in 8th grade…