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News | Events | Academic | Arts and Culture | Sport | Clubs and Societies | The School | Past Pupils | Archive | |
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Perspectives on the Workshadow Experience
If you were to have asked my opinion of beginning a career
a week ago, you would have received the reply in one simple word: scary. Ask me today, and
my - and many other Grade Elevens -answers would have changed. This is exactly the idea
behind the Workshadow programme in which we, the Grade Eleven learners, are thrust out
into the working environment to experience what it's all really about: deadlines,
punctuality, people-relationships and, needless to say, the matter of money. This Workshadow programme has been designed to offer
learners the opportunity to gain insight into a career that they might choose to follow,
while gaining a more realistic idea of what it is like to interact with people in a
working environment. The programme, therefore, plays a vital role in our decision making
processes about what we are going to do after school. During my Workshadow, I was given the privilege of meeting
some of the most interesting, creative and honestly crazy individuals, whose ability to
work as a team truly amazed me. Contrasting with the formal atmosphere of the Independent
Newspapers, the Arts Department (Responsible for the weekly 'Top of the Times' section)
seemed rather casual and relaxed. I suppose that would result from the fact that their
work- reviewing and exploring the Arts - is not so much work as it is a passion for which
they are paid. The people I met and with whom I spoke - artists, musicians, film
reviewers, poets, actors - were people who were pursuing a dream, some despite significant
obstacles - often not of their own making. They are people to be admired, respected and
looked up to. I recognised that the working world may well be one based on the premise
that one needs to live, however there are often those who take that idea a step further
and base their work not on the money they make, but on their love of the job. These people
have fast become my super-heroes. It is people like these whom I aspire to be. Workshadow provided insight into the broader picture of
the way in which different jobs interrelate. No career can exist on its own. Cathy
Gillmer, Firdous Hendriks and Jessica Howell found this to be the number one lesson in
their workshadow experiences of the advertising world of copy writers, graphic designers,
art directors, advertising executives, media directors, photographers and creative
directors. Catherine Knight and Candice Jacobs decided that ' one has to start at the
bottom before reaching the top' was the basic idea in hotel management. Others learnt that
keeping the customer happy is generally the best thing to do, especially when the customer
happens to be one of the highest paying of the company. One of the most interesting lessons that I learnt in
shadowing Arts journalists is found in the words of Gail Reagon (the editor of the Arts
Department), "When I work, I play and when I play, I work." If the line between
playing and working is so hard to define, then it is a job built on passion, and generally
we succeed in what we enjoy. When we were little, playing in the mud, climbing the
trees, cutting Mom's daisy bush to shreds to surprise her, the idea of growing up and
careers was a fantasy world - a make-believe fairy-tale. It was easy to idealise and
stereotype the working environment, as is evident in the familiar words, "When I grow
up, I wanna be…" Now that we in Grade Eleven are 'growing up' and the world
of 'make-believe' is becoming more of a reality, it is not so easy to make rash comments
about what we are going to be. Decision-making is tough and involves long-term planning
and goal setting. Workshadow makes this process a little less tough. I cannot say that I
now know for certain what it is that I would like to do with the rest of my life, but at
least I've caught a glance at the world into which I am headed and I will not go into it
completely blinded. Leanne Johansson |
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