Year 9 student Amir was confident and ambitious. But until he completed the Future Frontiers programme, he didn’t have clear goals for his future, nor a full appreciation of why success at school was so important.
Amir was selected to participate in the coaching programme at Trainline, where he was supported by his coach, Freddie.
"School, for me, I thought it was just - you had to do it - because you just had to. But now I know that you do it to help you and aid you for your future career.”
Amir echoes what many students and teachers tell us about the limited opportunities for young people to engage in a thorough process of career learning whilst at school.
“In school they don’t really teach you about jobs, what you do in those jobs and what you work as”, he reflects.
“They just teach you about how to get the best GCSEs to get into college and how to - kind of - move up the system.”
Like many of our pupils, meeting with Freddie for 6 hours of face-to-face coaching was Amir’s first opportunity to discuss his aspirations at length and explore potential career pathways.
“Freddie helped me think widely about what I like and what jobs suit my preferences”, Amir tells us.
“We looked at lots of different options like management consultant, but I am most interested in starting my own business when I’m older.”
As part of the programme Freddie set up a call for Amir with a CEO and co-founder of a business, Concrete Canvas. This was the highlight of the programme for Amir: a chance to engage with someone who had gone through the steps to set up their own business. Someone Amir could relate to, whose motivations and story resonated.
“He told us about how he had started developing his ideas young, when he was at school like me. He kept a journal and whenever he thought of an idea, he noted it down”, Amir comments.
Reflecting on Amir’s progress throughout the programme, Freddie identified that “Amir was certainly confident at the start of the process, but now that confidence has translated to knowledge. And knowledge, not just of which career he wants to pursue, but also the steps he needs to take to get there.”
“He now knows what he needs to do in school to get the grades he needs, but he also realises there are things out of school that he can do, be it work experience, getting a Saturday job etc."
"He realises those things will translate into skills that will help him achieve his dream career.”
Amir echoes this and tells us about his changing attitudes towards education.
“The programme has changed how I think of school”, he says.
“It’s helped me think, “what am I really doing here?” What am I here to do?”
“School, for me, I thought it was just - you had to do it - because you just had to. But now I know that you do it to help you and help aid you for your future career.”
Meet Amir and Freddie in the video below.
Could the staff in your business inspire a student like Amir? Find out more about our corporate volunteering programme, or get in touch.
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