Take your kid to work day is an annual thing the grade 9’s do every year. This year was my year, so I got to experience many wonderful things within my dads company.
Driving Question
How does experiencing a workday shape our view of career choices?
For my workday experience I had the privilege of going to my dad’s work with another classmate, Madeline. My dad’s company is Xenon Pharmaceuticals, and he is the CEO. The goal of Xenon is to help patients with neural disorders, and developing innovative therapeutics to help these patients. I thoroughly enjoyed my day at his work, and all my dad’s colleagues worked so hard to make this day the best it could possibly be. There were 9 kids including me and we did everything from learning about brain tissues, learning about what the different jobs look like, and even doing science experiments. Xenon is in the process of creating a drug that will help patients, mostly with epilepsy. Epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes recurring, unprovoked seizures. Not all seizures are caused by epilepsy.
Co-Op Students
At Xenon, we got to meet 3 different Co-Op students, two that worked in the lab, and one that was looking at slides under a giant microscope. These students were really inspiring because they entered the Co-op program at UBC and tried around 50 times to get into a company that would take them, and didn’t rest until they had a job. They take an 8 month break from school, to come work in a real life job, where they have been studying and get to learn from the people who do it every day which is so interesting. I am really inspired to go into this program because I think it could really help me make a decision on which type of job I’d like to retire to. At the moment I am interested in going to law school, although I don’t know for sure. I think becoming a Co-op student could really help me with finding a job I would be happy and excited going to every day, and have the experience of working in a real life scenario.
Our Job
I knew this day was going to be no relaxing day without a job to do. Our assignment was to make a video about TYKTWD, and include an interview, what you did throughout the day, and different shots to include in the filming process.
Video
For privacy reasons I can’t publish my video for the world to see, but I can definitely show some pictures!
Thank You Letter
After we finished with TYKTWD, we wrote thank-you letters to the mentors we shadowed for the day, I wrote to my dad. This was mine:
Hi Dad,
Thank You for your time and energy for making “Take Your Kid to Work Day” possible. The interviews I acquired were very valuable, and my experience helped me understand what you do for your job, and what a normal day looks like for you. I appreciate the time you and your colleagues took to make my day fun while educating us. I learned so much from the day such as what each job looks like and the cool things that happen in the lab. I loved looking at the brain tissues and moving the computer around to see the tissues under the microscope. I learned a lot about the Co-op students and the time they have spent in the lab. It sounded like every one of them enjoyed it, and I hope to be involved in that program someday. In our Maker 9 project right now, our driving question is, “How does experiencing a workday shape our view of career choices?” We used storytelling and videography to show how experiencing a workday can shape our views of careers. I have sent you my Take Your Kid To Work Day video on iMessage, and please feel free to send feedback to help make my video the best it can be. Thank you again for your time and patience in allowing me to come to your place of work for the day!
Sincerely,
Julia
We learned how to send a proper letter, that was professional and sounded well put together. Although I only wrote to my dad, it was important to practice writing emails like this for the future.
Conclusion
Overall, this day was so rewarding and I am so glad and grateful I got to experience this. Thank you to everyone who made this possible it was truly amazing. Take your kid to work day shaped my view on career choices because I got to learn about the different jobs people do, and see what a real job looks like day to day. Thank you to everyone who made this day possible, I really appreciate everyone who made this day possible.
Thanks,
Julia
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