Youth; not wasted on the young after all

Today I gave a presentation on development and employability to a large group of Year 12 students, who are nearing the end of their A-level studies, at the Clarendon Academy in Trowbridge – the county town of Wiltshire, in England.

I felt I had to write this brief post to reflect on my experiences of today’s presentation to these youngsters. And this, more specifically, was prompted by one of the young students coming to me at the end of the presentation;  he walked up to me, extended his hand to give me a handshake by way of thanking me, and he just looked at me and said, somewhat quietly: “Amazing!”.

This one single and seemingly little word of feedback just made my day.

To be able to have a listening audience of some 60 or 70 students, whose world is their oyster and who have all that life of their  individual working careers in front of them, in a more connected world, was just very exciting and satisfying. I spoke about the field of business psychology and how this relates to the students  in the audience and how they might work on their employability, becoming well-rounded individuals who are ready to face their next step.

The last point I need to make here is that from the way these students interacted with me, and the way they listened to what I had to say, what I tried to convey, I felt that they really took on board my key messages and understood how they might use the ideas I ( hopefully) gave them.

The Head of 6th Form summed the message up well to the students, at the close, in three points for students as a ‘take-away’:

1. Love ([I add:] or at least ‘Like’) yourself,
2. Invest in yourself ([I add:] and give to others), and
3. Sell yourself (but not your soul..).

These students seemed to agree and understand what I was trying to get across. They were all ears..! Which brings me back to the title of this small post.  I came away thinking – perhaps naively, that, on balance, all seems well with the world – certainly the world of Wiltshire and The Clarendon Academy, if we go by these students.

….Youth; it is not wasted on the young.