CV youth and Deloitte consultants break the ice by silently drawing a picture of a house with only one pen.
by Tory Davidson, Community Engagement Manager
It’s not every day that the Changing Voices team is clad in polished shoes and button-down shirts, welcomed into a skyscraper in downtown Chicago, and given the run of the place. In June, Deloitte let us do exactly that.
As a part of their annual Impact Day, 12 Deloitte consultants invited our well-dressed ensemble into their state-of-the-art offices for workshops on the skills our youth are most excited to improve: resume-building, job interviewing, and financial literacy.
“It was fantastic. Everyone at Deloitte was nice and welcoming,” said CV member Isiah. “I liked their presentations on job skills, and I definitely learned good things, like to include what you’re proud of on your resume. They gave us useful skills for the real world.”
Ty works on her resume with a Deloitte volunteer, who offers advice on what details she can add or omit.
While building his resume, Isiah shared that he was the valedictorian of his eighth-grade class and a member of his middle school’s chess club. Another ensemble member, Jonte, worked at a community garden when he was younger: “I was really proud of working hard and seeing my hard work pay off when the vegetables were grown. I could say that I made that happen.”
Just as the consultants got to know more about our youths’ lives, the ensemble was full of questions for the Deloitte staff. They wanted to know what it meant to be a consultant and what life paths each employee took to get to Deloitte.
“They all came from different backgrounds,” ensemble member La’Keisha said. “One was an art major, and now he’s working for a consulting company.”
Over the five hours, we spent together, our youth forged real bonds with the Deloitte team. “We have personal connections with them now. We’re even connected on LinkedIn,”La’Keisha noted.
These bonds empowered the ensemble to envision themselves working in a place like Deloitte one day. They asked about the company’s internship opportunities and what sort of educational experiences their hiring managers look for.
By exposing our ensemble to unknown careers, environments, and people, it ignited new questions and ideas for what their futures might look like. That’s real impact.
For inquiries on how your company can get to know the Changing Voices ensemble, please contact Tory Davidson, Community Engagement Manager, at tdavidson@storycatcherstheatre.org.
