In April, ExpandED Schools, in partnership with the NYC Department of Youth & Community Development, hosted a “Careers in Sports” virtual panel aimed at bringing together sports professionals and middle school students attending Beacon, Cornerstone, and Compass after-school programs. The event provided a glimpse into various careers in the sports world for early exploration.
The spring panel featured professionals from various sports organizations across the city: Donovan Mitchell Sr., New York Mets Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Michael Senay, Senior Manager of Government Affairs & Social Impact at Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp.; Jenny Vrentas, a sports journalist from The New York Times; Esteban Camino, Senior Manager of Media Relations at New York City FC; and Theresa Acosta MS, ATC, LAT-R, Head Trainer at the NY LIBERTY.
Five middle school students attending the LEAP NYC after-school program at MS 88 in Brooklyn moderated the panel. Their assistant site director, Jose Peguero, supported the student moderators in preparing for the event by having students research the panelists, discuss vocabulary connected to panelists job descriptions, and watch videos of “Hot Ones” to get a sense of what moderating a discussion looks like.
From there, students brainstormed discussion questions for the professionals, including: Why is diversity, equity inclusion important to your job, and to sports? Do you think it’s important to have a plan “b” for a career beyond professional sports, and if so, why? What made you change from majoring in biochemistry into wanting to be a journalist at the New York Times?
The panelists provided a great discussion for students. However, it was the creative and inquisitive questions developed by our student-moderators that led to an accessible and engaging panel for after-school sites. Having students lead the way in career exploration empowers students to take on leadership opportunities, but also enables them to learn about careers in ways that are interesting and relevant to them.
Events like career panels with professionals and community walks to local businesses can be a great way to engage middle school students in career exploration this summer. For more resources on how to lead these events at your site, check out some of the resources on our brand-new Exploring Futures Resource Hub. In-line with the goals of Exploring Futures events, we highly encourage the middle school students to take on the bulk of the question-asking!
Building on the success of our first event, we are excited to announce another “Careers in Sports” panel, this time moderated by students from the Graham Windham Summer Rising Program at PS 123. This event is scheduled for July 29th at 1:00 pm. We invite all middle school educators and site directors to join us, along with your students for this action-packed event. To further enhance the student-centered nature of the event, students will have the opportunity to ask questions live on camera!
To register for the virtual panel, please email me directly at [email protected].
