Junior Achievement of BC (JABC) hosted a TED Talk-style conference to encourage students to think about tech-related careers.
JABC TechWorks gathered students in grades nine and ten across Kelowna to learn more about the impact of technology on multiple industries and disciplines.
The point of the day is to get students thinking about tech-related careers, but also to show them that they can always start with another careers and incorporate technology into it at some point.
JABC president and CEO Sheila Biggers said they want to expose students to the many tech-related options available to them and ways to pursue those options.
“The most important thing to note though is we don’t talk about tech-sector jobs per se, but it’s about tech-related careers,” she said.
“So it doesn’t matter if you’re with BC Hydro or you’re farming, in medicine or banking, technology is involved in all of those.”
Biggers added that ultimately, the day’s goal was to prepare students for successful futures by showing them what it will look like.
“And what we know about their future so far is that in this province, tech is one of the fastest growing sectors and the jobs that are going to be available to students will require a lot of education and will require knowledge in technology.”
“What we’re doing is inspiring kids to get the education that will allow them to benefit from that economic uptick,” Biggers added.
Participating students said the conference was exciting and they hoped to learn more about tech-related jobs and how they can get there.
“I guess every job is influenced by tech nowadays, so I’m thinking about it,” Olivia Morris said, when asked about her future plans.
“I haven’t really thought much about what I want to be when I grow up, but after today, my ideas have expanded,” participant Nova Jordo said.
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