The Ruyterwacht Neighbourhood Watch will be hosting a career expo for the youth on Youth Day, Friday 16 June.
“We will have various colleges and public service officials exhibit their offerings and they’ll have a couple of minutes to speak about careers within these fields. We will also have a few entrepreneurs come and showcase their success stories. Our objective with this event is to motivate and empower our youth and to equip them with enough information to make informed decisions about their futures,” says Janine Thomas secretary of Ruyterwacht Neighbourhood Watch.
According to Thomas, it is the first time they are hosting an event of this magnitude.
However, they have discovered that many of the youth do not have sufficient access to such exhibitions and information.
“For many of our youth, it will require them to travel from one institution to the next to attend their open days and the funds aren’t always readily available. Our youth today are no longer optimistic about their future because of socio-economic challenges.
“We, therefore, decided to take the initiative and bring enough information to them as possible with the hope of re-igniting their dreams,” Thomas says.
Statistics paint a terrible picture
Thomas says that the statistics paint a terrible picture “and unfortunately there is nothing we can directly do to change that ourselves.
“The job market today is seeking skilled individuals, with Grade 12 being necessary but not enough.
“This is why we are bringing this information to them, to make them competitive. We are hoping that events such as these will encourage our youth to find something they’re passionate about and make a living out of it. We are especially also tackling the topic of entrepreneurship to encourage them to start their businesses which would also then reduce this rate.
“By organising more events such as this we are looking at a lot of ways to motivate and invest in the youth, such as extra-mural activities like soccer and karate that is in the area already,” Thomas says.
Parents to join kids
The Ruyterwacht Neighbourhood Watch would also like to encourage the parents to join their children at this event “so that they too can get a better understanding of the possible career path their children are interested in.”
They would like to invite other stakeholders or organisations to assist in any way, such as offering available learnerships to create a positive impact in the community.
This event will take place at Goodwood College on Friday 16 June from 09:00 to 14:00.
The neighbourhood would like to thank the principal and the SGB of Goodwood College for allowing them to use their facility and participate in the event.
