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Parkland youth ambassadors report ‘job outreach’ program that connected 46 high school students with professionals
Summary
Four Parkland youth ambassadors presented a year-long capstone describing a job outreach program that hosted Q&A sessions with professionals; the pilot had 46 participants and organizers plan to transition leadership to future student officers or a club model.
At their April 16 meeting the City of Parkland’s youth ambassadors presented a capstone report describing a job outreach program that connected high school students with working professionals to answer career questions and help students explore pathways.
Jackie Weymayer, senior director of strategy and intergovernmental affairs, introduced a team of four student ambassadors who said they had surveyed peers and decided career development was the top youth concern. The ambassadors—Nithi Barambay, Mallory Bitterman, Victoria Damaso and Alex Padnis—said the pilot drew 46 participants from three schools (Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, North Broward Preparatory School and Pine Crest) and featured professionals including a pharmaceutical sales representative and an electrical engineer.
“People found the question-and-answer section really useful,” the students reported, summarizing post-event survey results. The ambassadors said 62.5% of attendees said they would attend another session; respondents ranked several takeaways including that it is acceptable to switch career paths, that connections are important, that hard work pays off and that finding personal motivation matters.
Students outlined how the program was organized—flyers and QR codes distributed to schools, Google forms to register attendees, Zoom Q&A sessions with live chat—and proposed next steps: recruit student officers for continuity, pursue a school club or nonprofit structure, and expand the roster of professionals to include lawyers, doctors and small-business owners. They recommended an application and interview process to select future ambassadors.
Commissioners praised the project as practical career preparation. Commissioner Breyer called the program “very beneficial,” and another commissioner said the ambassadors’ key-takeaway slide alone demonstrated the program’s success and urged the students to work with the Parkland Chamber of Commerce to expand local professional participation.
The students said they intend to hand leadership to a new student board when they graduate and to pursue formalization so the outreach can continue beyond Parkland.
