 All right, we'll get afternoon everyone So I am very very pleased to be with you all and to be able to moderate this panel of leaders who are currently Youth apprentices or have graduated from youth apprenticeship programs completed youth apprenticeship programs These are the folks from whom we are so so so excited to learn to hear from to get insights from To hear the stories of to be able to bring back share with our colleagues and use in our own work And so I'd love for them to introduce themselves so we'll go down the row if you will and If everybody could tell us who you are what you're doing right now where you are in school And what your job title is? Well, I'm Joshua Carpenter. I'm a senior at Stratford high school right now And in my first year at Trident Technical College, and I am a youth apprentice at Boeing as an NC programmer What right on and would you would you tell us real quick? What does an NC programmer do Joshua? Well, I program Like a gantry and a robot to drill holes on plane wings Okay, excellent in the right place, right? Excellent. Thanks so much, Joshua Hello, hi, I'm Collins Johnson. I'm a graduate. Well, I already graduated. This is my first year at Trident Tech as well I work at Trident Medical Center Currently and I'm a patient care technician. Great. And what is a patient? Yes? And tell us what does a patient care technician do? We do things like making beds washing patients We check their blood glucose levels. We draw blood We're like a little phlebotomist kind of We do other things like just work working under nurses basically and Yeah, basically Thank You Constance, Jordan. Hello. I'm Jordan fancy. I graduated Stratford high school last year I I'm currently a national maintenance technician. I Sorry Come and start with technology Fantastic Tell us a little bit more about what you do in your work What I do is mainly I just keep the lines running. So I'm I'm basically I'm mechanic So I fix Giant machinery keep it running I do anything from replacing motors to Replacing assembly lines. So Fantastic anything to keep it. Okay. Great. Thank you so much. All right Byron I'm buying for shade the second graduated Wando high school And And a former youth apprenticeship apprentice act this institution I work a wild doings resort on a la palm South Carolina, and I'm a lion chef slash bake bake with chef during the summertime Right on. So thank you So tell us what does a lion chef do a lion chef is basically anything like typical. Let's say you go to I Don't know if you're restaurant basically. I'm preparing your food I'm making sure it's getting out right make sure it's getting out to not too salty or I don't like pickles Yeah Food in a banquet chef is I think is my fun part of my job is during the summer time We do anything between 500 to 1500 people for weddings or conference parties or you mean a team of five knocked that out Fabulous, thank you. All right, Stephanie. Hi, my name is Stephanie Walters I was in the try to tech youth apprenticeship program for a mechanic now I am at Robert Bosch being trained to be a mechanic electrician and a machinist Fantastic, so you were telling me a little bit at the table about what you do in your work. Will you tell us a little bit more? Yeah, if the machine breaks down We fix it whether it's mechanical or electrical and then if something needs to be made to modify the machine We can make it out of metal Right on. All right. Thank you so much So we have some questions pre-prepared and what I'm going to do is invite our panelists to answer Different questions, but what we're going to also do is if anybody has anything to add as we've talked about I really want to welcome those additions and then we'll make sure that there's an opportunity for folks in the audience being blocked by the podium To be able to ask questions as well So if you would Byron start us off a little bit and tell us how did you first hear about the youth apprenticeship program that you ultimately went into Who influenced your choice to pursue the program and kind of walk us through the process of how that worked? So coming in the high school. I was playing football coming in from middle school to high school So on my head I was thinking yeah, I'm gonna be in the NFL Let's go ahead and make this happen then sadly my sophomore year I hurt myself and I couldn't play more So my guidance counselor, Mr. Stilley. She introduced me into the you finish a program This is the first year Wando has ever done it and I was kind of like the prototype per se for that So she's like you should try this you should do this you like to cook you know how to cook Let's get you into this program. So I'm like, yeah, okay, let's do it then the rest of history from there It kind of took off my natural talent combined with the book smarts per se It just took off for me So my guys counsel helped me on a lot of that when you were sharing with me at the table before that Your family members had gone a different path and was encouraging you go that route My mother used to be a nurse but now she does represent Francis insurance She takes care of their policies and everything my grandmother's still a nurse But she owns her own adult daycare and they're kind of eating toward me go on to the medical field. I was like No, I can't do that then no then cooking came along. Okay, but my message to that is Please parents if you're me up if you have children, please let them do what you think they want to do Don't push them towards something your you know my dad did this my father No, please don't do that because you're not gonna know if they're going to succeed it until they fail And if they do fail give them another shot, but always students if you're in here, please go against the grain I am the advocate for different. I love So does anyone else on the panel have a different journey of how you learned about the apprenticeship that you would like to share with our audience well, um my grandma works here at Trident Tech and the institutional research department and she first wanted me to she brought the apprenticeship program to my attention in my sophomore year when I was at Stratford and I wasn't really interested at the time like looking at the different paths I could take but then She showed me again last year and that's when they introduced the engineering pathways And so I went my grandma 16. All right So having those relationships with folks who understand how the process moves. Okay. Good anybody else Oh Like my counselor at Ford or touch Ford or Chester She actually introduced it to me first, but I was just like no, I'll just go to college of Charleston I'm not gonna do this and then afterwards like my mom She just kept pushing it like hey like here's the apprenticeship. You need to do it. It's so much better You save money a lot of blood you get to see if nursing's really for you and I was like, yeah I guess but I'm gonna go to a four-year college. I want to go to college of Charleston Not gonna do that. But after a while I was thinking and I was just like, okay, like I guess I can try But after all I I enjoy I love it so much Fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. So Joshua, I've got you for the next question and that is we often describe youth apprenticeship as a triangle And then we've seen that image of the pyramid There's the high school the college the employer and the intermediate in the intermediary as well So practically speaking you're the one traveling the triangle, right? Each of you has been Going back and forth navigating the transitions the different cultures of school work College, what's that like and walk us through a typical day or week for yourself? Well, it's um, it's a lot different than what I was used to last year With just going to strafford from 845 to 4 o'clock and coming home, but Now I mean it starts off the same the same still I go to strafford for two classes But then I leave in the middle of the day to where I go to bowing or here to take classes So that's that's a lot different from what I'm normally used to How do you manage the homework for both high school and college and managing that with work? Well with the remaining classes that I need to graduate from high school I got lucky because they're not really like that intensive when it comes to that But the classes that I haven't tried I have to focus a lot more on those and study a lot more for those definitely Yeah, okay cool anybody else want to share how you navigate the different roles you you uh, you have Stephanie For me, I really liked having the fact that when we came to try it some days of the week We learned something and it wasn't something that we would learn just for some tests that we'd take next week But instead it was something that was actually skillful and something that we could use the next day when we go to work So it's not something like a formula we learned for a math class It was something that oh I can take this apart at work. I can do that too You know, it's a place where you can show yourself to your company Fight on thank you Thinking back in off what she said basically same thing for the kitchen One day we'll be How to break down the chicken eight ways and like get the word to be like, okay bar break down 20 chickens eight ways. I'm like, oh we did this a couple of hours ago So, you know, it kind of helps out too Very cool. So really applying what you're learning in the classroom and vice versa fabulous So whoops so constants, um a big part of youth apprenticeship is on the job learning And so for this to work, you need support and mentorship on the job so And I think that's particularly true As a youth apprentice So would you tell us about the relationships that you've been able to develop and Who have been the key supports for you in your experience as an apprentice? Sure, um, mr. Rana Like she was just here like probably like an hour or two ago. She was one of the panelists She actually hired me at trident health and she's been a great mentor Just checking up on us emailing us to make sure we're on top of All the vaccines that we need to have for the hospitals if there's any problems with Floor that we're on just contact her or with our work schedule or with school. She's she's amazing with that And the nursing directors on the floor. They're really cool, too They always ask if I need help with anything Or if there's any questions if you know the nurses or the patient care attacks are treating me, okay They're awesome as well and my mother. Um, she's been a great mentor as well. She's actually a nurse herself So that's pretty cool to have just in my corner just to make sure I know what i'm doing and preparing myself for a nursing school Fantastic. Thank you. So do you all want to share anyone who's been Significant in your lives as a support or a mentor on the job? Yeah, I mean it was my guidance counselor in high school, mr. Silly and my parents at home and like I said it always starts at the house and the parents supporting their kids But that tried it. There's one lady in particular. I'm not gonna name no names Miss miss costman No, I love her so much y'all she's like my second mother and any time I was out of place He was like she was on me like flies on him on a cow pie That is one major support and I love her so much for it because without her I wouldn't be you know sitting up here Fabulous fabulous all right Well, we can't overemphasize the importance of counselors and advisors and teachers and caring adults and students lives And we hear it in the stories Right here anybody else want to share? Yeah, Stephanie So I was in robotics for a lot of my time in high school and my robotics mentor really pushed me into this program and doing the Apprenticeship program because I saw two older Classmen who were doing it and that was during the first year that they had it at my school and here at trident And I was like if they could do it I could do it too and my mentor was like, you know, you're a female too So you're gonna be like a minority there in your field and you can help show other females too Like they can do it and that they can you know go through and do a career that is typically male oriented Fabulous So jordan, what would you say has been the biggest benefit of your youth apprenticeship experience and what has it taught you? um One of the biggest benefits is free college Tell us more about This is like these classes that we're taking now I see people paying thousands of dollars and You go out there other like four-year colleges Who aren't going in the same field as I am they're paying have like $40,000 in debt and I don't have that thankfully Not only that but I also have Experience something that other people who did not go this program do not have I have two years of experience So not always my foot in the door, but I also have a leg up on the competition. So I'm getting I'm gonna get paid more I'm more Think of the weird but I'm more desirable basically. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely outstanding Anybody else want to talk about what kinds of experiences you've taken away from that that on the job training the Benefits to your own learning In terms of helping to clarify what direction you might want to go I'll take you back Yeah, like with nursing, I wasn't really sure if I really wanted to do that, you know Like, you know, like I said my mom she was a nurse and everything and my grandmother she was a nurse So I was like, I don't want to be a nurse. I don't really think that's for me I don't want to be in that like, you know generation thing or whatever It's like maybe I'll do like veterinarian worker, you know work as a pa or something, but it's like Glue it's like I was like trying to get off, but it was just kind of So I was like, okay So like with the apprenticeship, I just feel like it kind of helped me to see if that was really for me So I really appreciated that experience Fantastic I was not I'm not a I'm not a school guy. I like to just go ahead go with the flow But that also learning doing that I also learned how to you know kind of stay in one lane But squirm a little bit. So it kind of it did help me in that Area prospect fantastic. So having that on-the-job experience Also fed into helping you to be successful in your school Great excellent So I'm going to start off with Stephanie with this question But I'd love to hear from everybody on the panel Is there anything you wish you had known ahead of time that you now know Having experienced it that you think is important for all of us to be aware of so Stephanie if you would start us off There's a lot of things I wish I knew and I wish I could go back and know what I know right now I guess for me, I guess one of the main things was whenever I made connections at work It was wonderful because you know, everyone's good at something and someone can be like really passionate In a certain field and I wish that I uh, not only like kept those connections But always would go back to them whenever I had those same problems or same like Situations that came up at work because you know Some lines have certain things that go down or some lines have like certain characteristics like pneumatics, which is you know The power of air So like, you know, some lines may have like air hoses and if someone's like really good at that Then you can go to that connection and go to that person and talk to them If it's if it's something that you might struggle with or something you might not always understand how to diagnose Um, so I wish that I always like uh, not only kept my connections But always like kept up with them and made sure that I knew and talked to them more about uh, like their real world experience At my plant so not just at trident and working on any facility, but especially at blush Fantastic, that's such an important reminder of how important it is To feel comfortable asking questions and also how important those relations Relationships are on the job of folks who can help you to navigate things Yeah, and I also would say for people who like are trying to like help support the community by growing apprenticeships or Help their children be encouraged into going into the apprenticeship is that you know, it's the triangle It's a win-win for everyone and uh, it's not just going to help me and the people who are apprentices It's going to help people in our country that maybe don't have those options So like with me working at blush, they give me a 401k. So whenever I um retire I don't have to draw Social Security So that can help someone somewhere else in the country that doesn't have the same skill and they can't get a job So then they can rely on the government instead of me Fantastic, thank you So any other insights from our panel things that you Wish you had known that you know now that you'd like for us to be aware of and maybe we can help others to anticipate that As they go into the process um Well, it's something I did know A sacrifice you have to make like It's a good one so Like the change in what your life is before and what it is after the apprenticeship program Like they they tell you that like it's going to be a lot different But then like you're like I can handle it'll be fine, but then like once you're in it. It's like Man like you miss a lot of the stuff from your life like high school Like again 8 45 to 4 o'clock seeing all my friends and just hanging out with them But then it's like I can't do anything because I have to go to classes And then I got to go to work and then I got a study for the test I have and Yeah What y'all said basically the same thing is like You come to school for half a day then you go to either school or work for half a day And it's like yeah, it's the thing I wish that we know is you know more time It's real time consuming. I'm thinking like about four hours of class 10 hours a week. I ain't that bad And once you get it, I'm like I'm gonna need a volume, but um But yeah, it's just time consuming and like coming into school Then you know you're going back to high school. It's like dude. I haven't seen you like we can have him like yeah I know man The time you are putting into this program does help you in the moment Fantastic Yes, absolutely. Actually, um with the nursing the pre-nursing program for the apprenticeship Over the summer we had to do a cna and patient care tech course and so Like I had no summer basically I was I was there every day And so um, actually I had a mission trip I was supposed to go to with my youth group at church and I couldn't go because literally the day was supposed to go to the mission trip That's the first day of our cna class and there was no other day I can make up the days either you go on a mission trip for a week or You know your future is on the line So I definitely had to give that up and do the apprenticeship and no regrets no regrets Fantastic, but that's a helpful reminder that sometimes we have to Set different priorities and make sacrifices, but then the gains hopefully far outweigh those sacrifices. Yeah Well, I'm gonna go a little off script. So how have you managed those relationships? Maybe that have changed because you're not around as much Have you been able to stay connected to folks and make new connections? Maybe on the job as well? Well For me like with the cell that I work in They're with much older people. So we're not really like buddy buddy after work But I I still stay connected with my friends and they like ask me like when the next like time that I could possibly hang out with them, but It is a lot different. So so it takes intentionality, but you don't have to sacrifice those. Yeah That's good to know picking back an awful job said. Yeah, I'm I'm 20 years old So everybody else in the kitchen is in like their sixties So they're like, hey, we're going to get a beer. I'm like, I can't drink My friends from school You know, like we still keep in touch. You always know they're always checking up on me. So that's another support outlet I have in my back pocket. Yeah, absolutely. Oh excellent. Oh picking back. You know, yeah You do make a lot more friends because In college it's a lot. It's a better bond because you're going through the same thing not just You're going through the same you're doing the same job Even if it's at the different companies, you're still going to class and you're getting each other's numbers and you kind of like feed off each other You work together you pass together but um Yeah, you you make a deeper bond the different deeper connection. So you get better friends during the college. So You get that a better support group after high school. So, you know It's a lot of you. That's great. So you have both your friends in high school But you're making all these new connections in college help you navigate that process as well Fantastic. All right. So Before we open it up to the audience Um, tell us about I'd love to just kind of go down the line Tell us about your plans for the future What do you want to do at this point? And if you're in the apprenticeship, what are you Looking towards as a next step um both in terms of work and learning so You want to start off josh? Well, I'm hoping and praying that after my apprenticeship programs over that bowing Like wants me to still work with them and then also I plan to obviously further my education and go to a university after My two years here. Okay. And what what kind of degree would you want to pursue? Still an engineering degree in aerospace Right on. Okay. Cool Constance, um I want to go into the nursing program here at trident and then Hopefully once I get my ad and I'll get my bsn. I either m u s c or charlson southern And just keep progressing. I want to like go and get like my doctorate in Doctorate in nursing and become a nurse practitioner. So That'd be fun. Fantastic. Yes And that education will be paid for as you're working and yes, yes Fingers crossed fabulous How about you jordan? Um, I'm kind of the same but I see and I'm going to pray that Cummins Hires me on as full-time because they Then I'm going to go try and get a master's degree in either mechanical or electrical engineering. So Fantastic. All right. Thank you By for me, I was just want to learn as much as I can right now from traveling learning different cuisines and Different skill sets that add on to my arsenal than later on down the road I would hope to open up my own restaurant. So, yeah Right on right on Y'all this bit um Um, my company while doing so we do have Outlets and restaurants all over the world. We just got piton with height. So now I really have some connections But um coming this summer I get to luckily go to hawaii and learn for a couple months Fantastic, and then I started another apprenticeship at my company last year and I got There they're training me to be more than just a mechanic They're training me to be three different things the electrician the mechanic and the machinist So with that I'll have more job security and more flexible working schedules because I can do any of the three jobs And then um after that which is going to end in 2020 Then I'm going to go to the school for two years We're going to transfer my classes here at trident and I'm going to end up with my engineering degree as if I had You know graduated high school and went to a four-year So I'll end up with my four year, but I won't end up in debt because my company will pay for it And Stephanie would you tell us real quick what you just shared with me about having uh just acquired something very exciting Yes, uh, and then one of my uh classmates and I started dating and now we are getting married soon. We are engaged And uh Something more personal to me was uh like later on after my engineering degree and my Educational career Me and him also want to start some different non-for-profits But we also want to own our own business to pay for our not-for-profits So we want to own a manufacturing facility and also we like working on cars So we want to do that part-time too And then we want to uh help people who have a family members who are drug addicts because um where I come from my family There are some people in that in my family who had struggled with that and uh, Also, I want to help people who are um in the nursing or in the foster care systems And uh because I was a war friend or not a war friend, but I was in the foster care system So I want to help people who are in the foster care and also um own my own orphanage Fabulous So I would like to open up Questions to our audience to give you all the opportunity To ask our wonderful group of panelists whatever questions you all might have Yes, and could we have a mic down here? Or actually I can Here we go There you are. Thank you so much you all are so inspiring. Thank you for sharing your stories Um question for you if you were speaking to your fellow students from high school And or speaking with the superintendents And or principals of the schools What would you advise them around how to help people get into apprenticeship? And especially in light of things like school sports and school clubs How to navigate that I it doesn't sound like you actually would have had any time for those things or you did and then you re-routed How to help them navigate this um Time that they would have because so many people do those things, but can you do those things and work and do apprenticeship? What would you advise again your fellow students and the principals and superintendents in schools? For me players that I played football So but I didn't play football and do the apprenticeship program at the same time because I was hurt But to juggle it. I'm thinking uh Is either You tell the principal or whatever whoever in charge of that, you know, let your player or let your student You know, please work around their spirit, you know my boss I know during the school year you're supposed to be working about what 10 hours a week Let your boss know listen. We got a game. We got games on thursdays and fridays You mind if I get thursday and friday's off and I work so it's happening sunday or whatever yada yada Then try to balance your school work with your work and your football But if you can handle all that I said go for it But if you can't you just got to give up something especially if this you know, it's dealing with your future so one else Um, I guess I can um Like the same Okay. Okay. Okay. Um the same with Byron. Um, I wasn't an athlete in high school, but I did do um student government and leadership And it was already kind of a hassle with doing that and because we had to do like a certain amount of hours for volunteer work in our classes And so it was kind of hard But um, I like like you said just go for it just kind of work along with your work schedule Try to work on the weekends. I know with my student government and um leadership We had events on the weekends So it was kind of hard to get you know, like your hours times and um work around with the teachers But I say go for it if you have to go after school and work go after school and work, you know Um, just make time it it's really hard, but definitely definitely worth it in the long run Fantastic Yum Earlier in the year I started My senior year I was sort of my junior that way I could have been done with the apprenticeship my senior So that way I have a lot more free time now and get on to doing other Like more like other degrees So it's really helpful to start earlier. Yes, so you have more options. Yes. Okay. Excellent. Thank you Okay, great other questions from the audience And now I think we've got some mics that are in rotation Have a hand back here I'm seeing a hand Hey, this is not um Actually a question, but I'm kind of going to do a feeder for Stephanie speaking of options and Karen winning ham wanted me to remind you if you had an opportunity to share with this group Your options that you had graduating first tell them where you graduated And the ranking you had at graduation and your options at that time and why you chose youth apprenticeship So, um, whenever I was a junior of I applied to go to harvard for a summer school program And what it is is it's just like trying it where you take classes at harvard and you Counts as credits to your high school and accounts for college credits So at the time I thought I was going to go into science And I thought it was going to be an astronaut because I really liked space But I figured out I had more of a passion to fix things So when I went there though, I did take classes and I had a lot of fun Learning and meaning new people and experiencing new cultures. So whenever I graduated high school I had a couple different options that were ivy leagues and had a couple of different options That were here in South Carolina and in the area for four-year colleges But I knew that uh, if I did that I could get it paid for because I was a foster student because like all my tuition at harvard for that summer was paid for but Or I could do it the other way where I could go with bosh and I saw that if I went with bosh I would still have experience growing and I would still have my educational experience because I want to learn and I knew that um At the end of the day if I wanted to go back to harvard and get a like a degree Maybe my masters or a phd or something, you know, I could always apply and do something later on But for now I knew that uh, my goals and my life and bosh's goals and they're Um, I guess they're values, you know, they aligned with mine. So I knew that if I kept going would not just bosh but with manufacturing that I'm going to be set for life That's fabulous. Thank you That's such an important reminder that there are equally valid equally valued post-secondary Pathways that can lead to wonderful opportunities for folks and to not create Hierarchies that always apply to every individual. So that's wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. Did I see a hand? Yeah, right over here I just want to say that I'm coming from the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in Virginia If you guys have business cards with your contact on them and you want to move to virginia, I can connect you That's what I'm talking about gentlemen in the back Oh So you guys have a lot of people in the room who are thinking about designing apprenticeships If you were the designers What would be the single most important thing that you would Want to be a part of any apprenticeship experience That's going towards the uh like designing your own path or Yeah, so if you would you like to clarify? Just if you got to design your own apprenticeship program for across any industry not just in culinary, but anyone What would be the the first thing that you'd be like, okay every apprentice Needs this thing I want to say every apprenticeship if you're going to go for it go 100 or don't go it up You've got to you've got to put if you have you have a passion for it and you have the love for it You can't couple once you get in There's getting out, but you're not gonna like it. So But just go for it. Don't be afraid not to Pursue what you want to do right on Take you back and offer you also, um, if you're going to like design one where you can Implement it in other states One main problem that we have here is that we're covering not only Dorchester County Charleston County or Berkeley County where like we have three different counties that are all coming here in North Charleston So I live from Dorchester and Dorchester County. So that's about 45 to an hour ride So one problem is transportation So one thing that you might need to you know Include in your design is how are you going to get these people? depending on how many counties you're covering and then another thing is is, um Make sure the tuition is paid for because We don't we can't pay for it. Like we said, that's one of the main things is that it's free and we have the Charleston joint council who pays for our books So not only classes are covered, but we need textbooks to take those classes and we need Supplies like um for us. It was textbooks for I guess for nursing. They'd probably need like medical equipment and Books and different stuff like scrub they paper scrubs, too, which was really cool For us it was uh my bag knives. No, we got we got that but you know My bag knives utensils all that good stuff, but that would be like hundreds of dollars. Yeah Three four hundred dollars at least right those textbooks Excellent There was another gentleman sitting right here his hands up right here Good afternoon Paul Thompson from Chicago City Colleges First I want to say just um how impressive all of you are Fantastic, uh, your poise and sharing your stories with us is really excellent Um, and so what I want to ask is if you could maybe each share What is maybe one of the most difficult things you had to overcome to be successful? And then any accomplishment that you're especially proud of that you would share You may want to go first. Well as I was talking about oh, I'm sorry Exactly As I was saying before with uh having to like Give up my normal high school life for this and not being able to talk to my friends and seeing my friends as much That's definitely like the number one thing out of anything But for the part about accomplishments with what I do at Boeing with nc programming Like there's a lot of stuff you can mess up on and then you have to go back and figure it out and Anytime I like figure something out on my own because this is my first time ever doing anything like this I don't know. It just feels really like I did something So yeah, fantastic. Thank you for sharing that Constance, um for me it was kind of like I wanted to go to a four-year college rather than a two-year so it was I But um because all my friends they were going to four-year colleges So for me like everyone was like you're going to try that you're going to a two-year tech school Constance you're so much better than that. You're so smart. Why are you doing this to yourself? And it's like What's the difference like we're getting the same education For the first two years and I could transfer, you know But I was a little ashamed of that and that's why Like I kind of didn't want to go like for the apprenticeship And I'm just so thankful that my mom kind of pushed me towards that just to like overcome that and not really, you know Let that affect What what can go on inside of me what that passion is in me? So, um For that that's something I has to overcome and just figuring out what I wanted to do rather what everyone else is Going to say just doing me. So um with that What I'm accomplished, um Kind of just working in the hospital with like older people And i'm kind of getting like that hands-on experience because usually like there's like hospital policies and stuff We can't normally do as young people. So it's kind of cool to just you know get in there and be like a little Junior and everything like that. So I love it. It's great That's fabulous. Thank you Jordan, um my I'm a quiet person As you can probably see But my biggest hurdle was trying like just stepping out of my conference zone and into Into an adult situation because in high school you can just Say in the background and just not talk at all Here you have to speak up speak loud because in the machine because you can tell you to test this In a factory it's very loud. So you cannot be soft spoken at all So that was adapting to that was very hard for me Right on And here you are talking to all these people and what a wonderful leader. Thank you That's fabulous Byron Kind of picking back enough what Constance said I had to get over my pride because When I was first introduced to this program, it was like, okay, we're going to send you to try it I'm like, man, y'all couldn't send me to cia in new york or In wales or something like that then then I thought about it for a minute. I'm like, well, it is closer to the house so So getting over my pride and you know getting to this program struggling to get to this program is my hardest and my Accomplishments from it is being the be one of the youngest chefs on we have ever hired today so Off the off the gate not being a dishwasher and if you're a chef, you know, I'm talking about you You start off in addition and grow your way up to the line. Not for me. It's just one of the youngest chefs they ever hire Fabulous definitely So for me, I guess, uh, there's two main things I had to get over one was um, you know being a female How do I explain my opinion or my views to uh, like my older? You know mentors because we always like follow a mentor and whoever you know is teaching you how to run your machines And usually they're like this is how it's done. This is the way we do it And I'm like, you know, well, what if we do it this way? You know, I always like to like see things in a different light so um, that was one thing and another thing for me was um Like getting it over to my counselors or getting it over to my like the educational leaders was that you know I'm going to try it instead of going to a four-year college This is whenever I was in the process of graduating because I have these meetings where you talk to the guidance guidance counselors and you tell them what you want to do and why and where you want to go And they just kept looking at me like why Stephanie? Like, why don't you want to go to these great places? And I'm like, I try to explain it to them So that's one of the things I had to get over was that they might not like my decision, but I like my decision and um I guess my greatest achievement would be my family because we do struggle with um Trying to uh, you know Incorporate friends or family or incorporate like the events we want to go to in our social lives But for me, it was like, you know, sometimes my friends are busy. That's okay But my family is always there so I can always go to them and I try to spend, you know Sometime with them every month, you know, my grandparents raised me so I always try to give back to them and um So family is probably my greatest accomplishment That's fabulous Well, I think we are at time But I want to thank our extraordinary panel Can we give them a round of applause? Thank you on behalf of all of us for sharing your stories for sharing your insights for sharing your experiences And for being such extraordinary leaders from whom we have all Learned so much today. So one more round of applause. Thank you