By Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Sometimes seeing your job through the eyes of a high school student can make you see it in a whole different light.
The women of the Commercial Real Estate Women of Jacksonville set up a Career Fair at the Pace Center for Girls to allow the girls to visit with various women (and some men) in the commercial field to ask the questions about how they got their job, what they do in their job, if they like their job, potential salaries, advancement possibilities and more.
“Sharing a future with these girls at Career Day was very fulfilling because we can all see ourselves in them,” said Beth Lipko, president of CREW and president of Backoffice Profits. “The excitement and fear of the future is very daunting when you are a teenager. At some point most of us felt the very same way and so by doing this we give them to experience so many different career opportunities in a familiar environment which is comfortable.”
CREW members let the girls know they weren’t always as successful as they are now and allowed them to see that they have potential to climb up and make something of their life.
“We love it when you come and tell us about your struggles and how you are attempting to overcome them,” said Lipko. “But, what we wanted you to understand is that the reason that many of us are here today is that we’ve walked in your shoes.”
Lipko shared some of her personal history and told the girls how she overcame some personal struggles and now has her own business and believes that with the help and encouragement of successful women everyone has the chance to succeed.
“We are here today because we want to reach out to you,” she said. “The decision to move on and the decision to become who you are and to be better than that in life lies within you. Pace teaches you that. When you leave here, you need to take that with you into the colleges that you go into or into the careers that you go into.”
CREW had representatives from the legal, banking, sales, journalism, construction, environmental science, real estate, interior design and more.
Many of the booths had interactive things for the girls to do such as counting money, look at architectural and building samples and research information about the building they were sitting in.
“We tried to gear it as much toward you and how it affects Pace,” said Laura Gonzales of the Bank of America and director of the association’s Philanthropic Committee. “The goal of today is for you to learn as much as you can and for you to ask as many questions as you can about what we do. There are no silly questions.”