I just wanted to say thank you for all of your hard work in organizing such a great conference. You truly outdid yourselves this year. The site visits on the first day were great. It made the second day so much more relaxing. I was very proud of my kids this year and on the way home they all talked about how much they got out of the conference and the sophomores and juniors are looking forward to next year.

Students and advisors involved in the Consortium initiative, The Future Is Mine, came together in Pittsburgh for the eighth annual Student Leadership Conference (4/25-26), where they celebrated their past year’s work, networked with their peers from across western Pennsylvania, and got an in-depth look at the careers available at some of the Pittsburgh region’s biggest employers.

The conference took place at the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center and was the culminating event for "Imagine! Career Week: Imagine What You Can Be In The Pittsburgh Region." This observance, planned by career education and economic development agencies, including the Consortium, focused on aspects of preparing the workforce to support regional growth.

This year, in a nod to the City of Pittsburgh's 250th birthday, the conference took students to the Senator John Heinz History Center, where they explored Pittsburgh's past and interacted with a "Pittsburgh NOW" panel that will highlight opportunities and attractions in the city and region. Panel members included Donald J. Michel of Lanxess, Debra Smit of Pop City, Christine Tumpson of Whirl Publishing, Dustin Stiver of The SPROUT Fund, Joanne Sujanski of KEYGroup and author of “How Pittsburgh Will Steel Your Heart,” and Emily Skopic of SimOps Studios.

The next day, groups of students were paired with marketing professionals and challenged to design a "Pittsburgh Marketing Campaign" with the two-fold goal of keeping young people in the region and attracting new people to the area. Students were asked to create radio advertisements, TV commercials, t-shirt designs, print ads and other promotional materials.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl closed the day at the history center with brief remarks to the group.

The history center visit came in the afternoon of a busy first day for students. In the morning, they went directly from their home high schools to a diverse array of businesses for in-depth looks at organizational culture and career opportunities. Participating sites include:

American Eagle Outfitters, Big Science, Bombardier Transportation, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Clear Channel, IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers), MARC USA, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Pirates/PNC Park, Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, SimOps Studios, Specter Studios, UPMC Mercy, Urban Design Associates, and WYEP—91.3.

Students came to the conference from these high schools and AVTS and CTC facilities:

Taylor Allderdice, Belle Vernon Area, Bentworth, Bethlehem Center, Brashear, Brownsville Area, California Area, CAPA, Carrick, Charleroi Area, Clairton City, East Allegheny, Elizabeth Forward, Gateway, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Highlands, Langley, Mapletown, McKeesport Area, Monessen, Mt. Pleasant, Oliver, Peabody, Penn Hills, Perry, Plum, Ringgold, Schenley, South Allegheny, Steel Valley, Thomas Jefferson, Waynesburg Central, West Mifflin Area, Wilkinsburg, Woodland Hills, Central Westmoreland CTC, Fayette County AVTS, Forbes Road CTC, Mon Valley CTC and Steel Center AVTS.

At MARC USA
The group that traveled to MARC USA had a chance to see the multi-leveled operations of a modern advertising agency.                     

The partnering business sites generously provided lunch for students.

Left to right above are East Allegheny students Kerra and Lindsey, both sophomores who have been involved in TFIM one year; and Halay and Gina, both seniors who have been in TFIM for two years.

Here’s a sampling of what they and others had to say about business site visits and other aspects of the conference:

Gina
Site Visit: Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
“I really liked how we were able to go to the art gallery while they were putting it together. It was really cool how we learned all the different aspects of the arts that you would never imagine.”
Favorite part of the Conference so far: “Networking with other students.”

Lindsey
Site Visit: SimOps Studio
“I really enjoyed how they showed us animation for video games and movies. We learned about all the technology for video games that were going to be coming out next year.”
Favorite part of the conference so far: “My site visit.”

Haley
Site Visit: WYEP – 91.3 FM
“ It was a good experience for students that want to go into broadcasting. I also liked that we were able to make our own commercial. It was very go green.”Favorite part of the conference so far: My site visit…(and) “I really enjoyed the Bob Tryanski.”

Kerra
Favorite part of the conference so far: The marketing breakout session. “I liked learning about marketing and how to appeal to different age groups.”

Joelisa, who hopes to be on camera someday, gets a little practice posing here with artwork created for the conference by Yough art Teacher Bob Weaver.

At Clear Channel

A site visit to the Pittsburgh office of media giant Clear Channel revealed an organizational structure that covers a number of separate entities, as the background of the group photo above shows.


Breakout Sessions

Timothy Aldinger of Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board (WIB) led a session on Transferring Leadership Skills, above and below.


Members of the Elizabeth Forward TFIM Team drew on their own experiences in presenting a session on motivating others.