Career Days: Aim High Students Visit KPMG, Credit Suisse, and GoPro

College and career options are topics Aim High students explore each summer. It’s part of our mission, after all, to ‘Prepare students for college, setting them on the path to future successes’. Career Days, a staple of the Aim High curriculum, is one way we do that. During such, students engage in activities designed to show the connection between education and career. Thanks to longstanding partnerships with companies, professional exploration can happen in its respective workplace environment. This summer, students visited the offices of KPMG, Credit Suisse, GoPro, and many, many others.

Our students were able to see themselves as innovators, engineers, product developers, lawyers and big dreamers. Seeing themselves in the GoPro space might be the ‘thing’ a student needs to take a leap towards a new opportunity. Michelle Cody, Bayview Co-Site Director

KPMG, a longtime Aim High supporter, hosted students from our Visitacion Valley campus. KPMG partners Nancy Rose and Roger Power, along with five interns, including an Aim High alumna, gave our students insight into the day-to-day workings of accounting, marketing, auditing, and HR. Students toured the eleventh floor office space and participated in group games that emphasized team building and effective communication. Juvella, a San Francisco native who works in KPMG’s HR department, shared her own professional journey, offering students some advice. “If you are unhappy in a situation you can change it,” she said. “If you have the opportunity to travel, do it. You never know where the experience will take you.”

IMG_7532 copy — Juvella, a KPMG employee, discusses her college trajectory with Aim High students.

IMG_7617 copy — Roger Power, a partner at KMPG, chats with students before lunch. He and Nancy Rose (not pictured) have helped cultivate KPMG’s partnership with Aim High.

Another Career Day took place at Credit Suisse. Students from our San Rafael campus visited the financial services company at their office in the Financial District. They talked about universities with college-age interns and discussed career aspirations over pizza. “It’s a really inspiring opportunity to learn about all the options that are out there,” said Jasmine and Leslie, two rising ninth graders. For the final activity of the day, students learned about the stock market by purchasing shares on a simulated marketplace. Posing as brokers, Credit Suisse interns sold students Starbucks, Apple, McDonald’s, and Nike stocks. At the end of the game, each stock’s value was revealed, and the student who made the most money won a gift card. The most widely purchased stock by middle school students was McDonalds.

credit suisse1 — Aim High teachers purchase stocks from a Credit Suisse intern.

credit suisse2 — A Credit Suisse intern helps two Aim High students add up their stock values at the end of trading.

Students from our newest campus in the Bayview visited the GoPro Headquarters in San Mateo. Thanks to Sharon Zezima, one of Aim High’s newest board members and a GoPro employee, sixth grade students learned about the action camera and the innovators behind it. They worked with engineers, tested the waterproof quality of cameras, and even met CEO and founder Nick Woodman. “Our students were able to see themselves as innovators, engineers, product developers, lawyers and big dreamers.” said Bayview Co-Site Director Michelle Cody. “Seeing themselves in the GoPro space might be the ‘thing’ a student needs to take a leap towards a new opportunity.” Experience the Career Visit for yourself. Watch this amazing short video shot by GoPro employees! Thank you to KPMG, Credit Suisse, GoPro, and many other generous companies who welcomed Aim High students and teachers into their office this summer. We couldn’t do our work without you.