• In March of 2017 Fresh Artists hosted the second annual “Cool Jobs”, a three-day career expo for almost 600 7th graders from Philadelphia and Norristown public schools.

The seed of the idea sprang from a program called “Artists at Work” developed by Barbara Allen in 1991 that introduced second graders to people whose daily profession was making art instead of working in offices, shops, or hospitals. The simple concept was to show young kids that art can be much more than a hobby. The initial program, established at the Woodmere Art Museum, has run successfully for the past 26 years with more than 18,000 second-graders meeting local, full-time working artists. Many young people have noted that this was a memorable, seminal experience in their lives.

We shared the initial concept for Cool Jobs with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and launched the project with their partnership and financial support and that of other generous friends in 2016. We learned a lot that first year.

In these pages we describe what we learned, what changes we subsequently made and how the experience has informed our plans for the future of Cool Jobs.

Outrage as a motivator

In the early planning stages of Cool Jobs 2016, we met with several career education administrators and teachers in the School District of Philadelphia to talk about recruiting students from area schools to the Expo. In one of our conversations we learned a shocking statistic:  52% of 8th graders drop out before high school. We had initially targeted 8th and 9th graders for Cool Jobs but were told that would likely be too late for many kids. We were horrified – and propelled to action!

We all know kids who love art but may not do well academically. What would happen to these youngsters in 8th grade, we wondered.

If they were not affirmed in school and saw no future for themselves, wouldn’t they be at risk of dropping out?

Out of this experience, our goals for Cool Jobs were adjusted to meet what we saw as an urgent community need:

• Introduce 600 at-risk seventh graders to highly successful, exciting people doing real jobs in the creative economy that they may not know existed.
• Show them accessible paths to these jobs.
• Encourage them to stay in school and choose the best-fit high schools and colleges for pursuing their path.

"It's important to me because when I go to colllege I'm going to have to think about this. Because it's my life and I have to have a good life."

Learning from Cool Jobs 2016

As with any first-time venture, we learned a lot from Year One of Cool Jobs. We took careful notes throughout the process so we could recalibrate and refine the experience for the kids, teachers and presenters. Fortunately, the Knight Foundation, seeing the promise in this initiative, had already signed on for a two-year commitment, so we knew we could experiment the first year. Here are some of the things we learned:

1)      Meet with the kids in advance

Communicate, communicate, communicate. This is one of our mantras coming out of the first Cool Job Expo. Describing the experience to participating teachers did not necessarily mean the students who attended would know in advance what to expect. So we went to them. Several weeks before the expo, Program Director, visited classrooms in the 11 attending schools across the city and conducted interactive sessions with students to give them a sense of what the Expo was all about. Using the profiles of several presenters, she led them in a Cool Jobs bingo game, matching the names of professions with their descriptions. Getting kids up and out of their seats created energy, excitement and a better understanding of what they might discover at the Expo. It also helped enormously to have a specially-created video orientation to Cool Jobs, filmed and written the first year for kids by high school students at Rough Cut Studios, at Science Leadership Academy. 

"A Hungarian seamstress helped me sew a crinoline to go under my dress for a 7th grade school play. That afternoon with Kaitlin Kodaly lit a fire in me that capapulted me all the way to designing costumes on Broadway."

2)      Choose a theme that matches the objective

Many creative people, looking back on their lives, are able to identify a positive adult role model who noticed them as a child, named their gifts and even in the subtlest of ways suggested a possible path forward. Recognizing that children in poverty are less apt to be exposed to such mentors, particularly when it comes to knowledge of the range of careers in the creative community, we decided to focus on this theme: “Some people cross your path and change your whole direction.”

In the promotion of Cool Jobs on social media, we invited people to respond to that prompt with their own examples of role models whose influence changed their whole direction.
The “path” theme infiltrated the DNA of Cool Jobs. It became our guiding light in the selection of Cool Jobs presenters and in the choice of inspirational speakers for the preview party that launched the week.

"Most of us found succesas because a person opened a door, believed in us, and sparked our passion. Cool Jobs will be this spark for kids and create opportunities at a critical point in their lives."

3)      Find passionate, talented presenters who care about kids

For many of the young people we meet in city public schools, the word “job” does not evoke positive images. Here’s an impression conveyed by one of this year’s seventh grade attendees at Cool Jobs:

"Most people I know have a job they don't like or that they don't want. I want my life to be different. I want a good job that makes me happy."

Our Cool Jobs Advisory Council was the go-to group for ideas about people in the creative community whom we could invite to be presenters at Cool Jobs. Loving one’s job became one of the important attributes we sought in a search for presenters.

We identified a number of other characteristics that also informed our selection: representation across the broad range of design professions – those that require college education and those that don’t; creatives whom we knew related well and enjoyed working with our target audience; people who were willing to sacrifice a day away from their busy work lives and who were prepared to donate their time at the event and in planning for their hands-on presentations; creative people who are successful in their careers; and, ideally, designers who as young people had themselves been mentored to find a career to love for life.

Industrial designer Antonio Black is a prime example. Here is an excerpt from a reflection he shared with us:

“I was born in Jamaica and came to America when I was 7. As a student at William Penn High School, which has since closed, I struggled to find what my overall goal in life would be. I somehow knew my future would be in the creative world but bounced between theatre and my natural ability as a sketch artist. In a chance encounter with a local social entrepreneur, my world opened up. She introduced me to a new, design-themed high school, which I leapt, in mid-school year, to attend. There I learned about architecture, design and building all sorts of things. She later created opportunities for me to attend free summer programs at Lehigh University and to visit Knoll Furniture. I escaped the confines of my limited Southwest Philly environment.”

Today Antonio is a successful product designer working in a job he loves – designing pet toys! He conveyed that love at Cool Jobs 2016 and 2017, as did all of our talented presenters.

Student groups rotate from one presenter to another every 20 minutes, meeting a total of five people during their Cool Jobs session. This year’s focus was on hands-on demos, with kids getting the opportunity to design a logo, paint part of a mural, and crack eggs for a lemon curd dessert.

Check out the talent line-up for the 2017 Cool Jobs!

Tuesday, March 28

• Robb Armstrong, nationally syndicated Cartoonist
• Antonio Black, Toy Designer
• Maya Bogdanow, Digital Producer
• Jason James, Graphic Designer
• Roger Allen, Large-format and 3D Digital Printer

Wednesday, March 29

• Margaret Little, Anya Shutov and Katie Shulman, Fine Art Conservators at the Barnes Foundation
• Stephan Copeland, Industrial Designer for Knoll and Steelcase
• Renée Robinson-Hopewell, Fashion Technical Director, URBN
• Kaitlin Staples, Art therapist
• Michael Latini and Marc Petrosino (“The Monkey Boys”), Multi-Media Producers, puppeteers and prop fabricators for Saturday Night Live (Spicey’s mobile podium!)

Thursday, March 30

• Jacqueline Jones, Executive Pastry Chef
• David Guinn, Muralist
• Ben Lindo, Industrial Designer
• Denise Wolf, Art Therapist
• Michael Spain, Architect

We asked for help

We’ve always known we’re as successful as the friends we’ve garnered along the way. And Fresh Artists is fortunate to have a big basket of wonderful friends!

First of all, thanks to our generous sponsors. You believed in us and made a dream come true!

• Presenting Partner: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

• Presenting Sponsors: A. C. Moore and SGIA (Specialty Graphics Imaging Association)
• Kiosk sponsors: Berkley Public Entity Advisors, Beyond Insurance, The Nana Fund at Triskeles Foundation, Martin Law
• Info wall sponsors: Eckert Seamans, TD Bank, Union Benevolent Association
• Bus and Backpack sponsors: Anro Printing, Behr Paint Corporation, Ted Borowsky, Chestnut Hill Hotel, Clemens Construction Company, Isaac and Barbara Clothier IV, The Creative Group, D2 Architects, Eileen Fisher, ErgoSoft, Foster, Glenmede Trust Company, The Lighting Practice, AC Lordi, Joan Mazzotti & Michael Kelly, Mayor’s Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy, Montgomery County Office of the Public Defender, Ann & Frank Reed, Sawgrass Technologies, Kim Sedmak.
• Media Sponsor: TV Channel 6abc

Hats off, too, to our corps of trained Guides and Greeters:

• Members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and . . .
• C. Gloria Akers, Kathleen Bouhdary, Kathy Bright, Christine Broome, Ronnie Collins, Les Cooperson, Helene Estes, Joanne Leasure, Claudia Librett, Lynada Martinez, Robyn Miller, Gaidic Trapman-O’Brien, Nancy Puklin, Marguerite Elias-Rice, Debbie Schwartzman, Emilee Taylor, Janet Welsko, Jerria and Lisa Williams

We increased the depth and breadth of this year’s Cool Jobs thanks to help from many creative professionals. Expert pro bono technical assistance was provided this year by:

• Graphic designer and FA Board member Jason James, who created the bold and lively motion graphic video we used to promote Cool Jobs this year. Rather than rely on PowerPoint, we chose a medium that more closely aligns with the caliber of careers to which we hope kids would come to aspire.
• Rough Cut Productions – a media production company staffed by students at Philadelphia’s magnet high school – Science Leadership Academy, led by media artist and teacher Doug Herman. Rough Cut shot video and still photographs at our preview party and during all three days of Cool Jobs. Another huge plus this year was the creation of a video orientation to Cool Jobs written by kids for kids. Student Cacy Thomas honchoed the team that made the video. Brava Cacy!
• Photographer/videographer Kevin O’Brien – a renowned documentary photographer who learned about Cool Jobs through his wife, Gaidic. He volunteered his time and considerable expertise (think National Geographic, Discovery Channel) to film presenters on the third day of Cool Jobs – another first.

And what would we have done without the additional help of the following extraordinary individuals!! –

• Gardner Allen, art fabricator and industrial designer
  Roger Allen, Fresh Artists Co-founder and Creative Director
  Lynn Berkowitz, Fresh Artists Program Director
  Alex Boatman, Fresh Artists Operations Manager
  Jimmy Coleman Trio: Jimmy Coleman, Jim Holton & Nimrod Speaks Barbara Dundon, Fresh Artists’ storyteller
  Diana Eidenshink, ACE Mentor Program
  Rosemarie Fabien, Fabien Communications
  Daniel Gittere, TrafficWrapz
  Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
  Rough Cut Crew, Rough Cut Productions
  Jason James, Listrak
  Beth Koenig, Brass Tacks Events
  Katie Latona, Fresh Artists Studio Manager
  Brian Lauer, Lauer Photography
  Frank Machos & Maddie Muth, School District of Philadelphia
  Richard Montanez & Patricia Nuble, Philadelphia Streets Department
  Michael Persico, Persico Photography
  Jim Pinheiro, ANRO Printing
  Leslye Saul, School District of Philadelphia
  Kerry Shepski, Whole Foods
  Gretchen Suess, PhD, Netter Center for Community Partnerships
  Cristina Tingle, Brulée Catering event management
  Tom Yungen, HP

Set design and construction

It’s no wonder people’s mouths dropped open – kids and adults alike – when they walked into Moulin, Cool Jobs event space in Scott’s Mill. Huge, colorful banners hung from the ceiling in the expansive, lofty 20,000 square foot interior of this former textile mill that once made blankets and uniforms for the Civil War.

The event space is owned by Brulée Catering. Thanks to all the folks at Brulée; to Kyle Levesque, wizard of sound and light for Eventions, and to our wonderful security guard and friend, Mr. Stan.

What better space to showcase the work of our children’s art than in this gi-normously spectacular setting?! Tom Yungen of HP donated all the media used to print the giant banners, wallpaper and signage, all displayed in our brand of vibrant primary colors. Printers donated by Mutoh America and HP helped us crank out thousands of square feet of bright graphics during the weeks leading up to Cool Jobs.

Kudos to Roger for designing a new custom wood connector, fashioned on a CNC cutting machine, used to join the “flats” that made up the Presenters’ kiosks and dividers in the space.

Thanks, too, for graphic designer, Tifani Vancil, who created our bespoke wallpaper used in our student Handbook and design panels. It incorporates the tools-of-the-trade for 28 different art/design careers. Tifani is a former coworker of our own Katie Latona, from Champaign-Urbana.

Celebrate early and big time!

Another refinement from last year was retooling the preview party, held the night before the kids arrive for Day #1 of Cool Jobs. The theme “Who changed your path” played a key role in the selection of speakers for the heart of the evening.

We also focused on what Fresh Artists does: Make Art! So our major annual fundraising event - the “preview party” for Cool Jobs, got a new name that matches who we – the “ARTy pARTy” And we decided to have fun and introduce grown ups to all of the hands-on artmaking activities that we give to kids in the schools we serve! 

Guests at the ARTy pARTy were invited to:

Create

• Contribute to a giant chip art mosaic using obsolete, recycled, donated Behr paint chips.
• Sketch a Mini-Mini Museum Masterpiece – one of our signature art programs for kids.
• Find their style at the Pop-up Shoppe, where volunteers sold throw pillows, bamboo boxes and trays, heirloom quality Memory Games, fine art prints, mugs and clocks – all bearing images and designs created by Fresh Artists
• Write on the Dream Wall; guests could leave handwritten messages of inspiration for the kids who would be attending Cool Jobs, beginning the next morning!

Engage

• Brighten up with industrial and lighting designer Stephan Copeland, who was there to talk with guests about his work. Steve was a presenter on Day #2 of Cool Jobs.
• Play with toy designer Antonio Black, who brought along toys and puppets of his own creation. Antonio was also a Cool Jobs presenter.
• Laugh with the Monkey Boys of SNL (Saturday Night Live) fame – presenters, as well.
• Marvel at Blue Cadet’s interactive graphics at a booth staffed by digital producer Maya Bogdanow, also a presenter. 
• Sketch with graphic designer Jason James, a Cool Jobs presenter, Fresh Artists board member and creator of this year’s Cool Jobs promotional video.
• Jazz it up with the Jimmy Coleman Trio. How cool is it that Jimmy’s two children: Olivia and Solomon are accomplished Fresh Artists?!!

Discover

• Be inspired by cartoonist Robb Armstrong’s story in his illustrated autobiography Fearless, copies of which he autographed for party-goers.
• Watch TrafficWrapz turn an urban eyesore into a mini art gallery by demonstrating how ugly traffic light boxes can be wrapped in Fresh Artists’ artwork.
• Check out Big Art blasting kids’ art from large format digital printers donated by SGIA partners, Mutoh and HP, and staffed by our own Roger Allen and Alex Boatman.
• Marvel at the giant Job Jawn (a huge facsimile of a Behr paint can) with call-outs of 8 creative jobs that it took to make it…and the artful display of Fresh Artists’ impact through three-dimensional “info graphics.”

The “heart” of the ARTy pARTy came at 7 p.m. when the speakers assembled at the main stage.

Cartoonist Robb Armstrong, introduced by young Fresh Artist Solomon Coleman and board member Jason James, mesmerized attendees with his spellbinding story of ascent – from the rough streets of West Philly, where he lived with his mother and four siblings in a cramped apartment, often without heat, to become a nationally syndicated cartoonist with an award-winning comic strip: Jumpstart. In keeping with the week’s theme, he credited two couples: Barbara and Quartie Clothier, and Mary and Howard Hurtig, for rescuing him from poverty and showing him a new path. Our Honorary Chair, Kelly Lee, the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy spoke eloquently of the need for entire communities to get behind our children in opening opportunities for workforce development, and Knight Foundation’s Philadelphia Program Manager, Patrick Morgan, described the many ways in which they have provided support for Fresh Artists innovations in the arts. President of the Specialty Graphics Imaging Association, Ford Bowers, spoke of the importance and potential impact of his 50,000 member professional organization can bring to bear on connecting with youngsters. Large-format digital printing is a huge industry with thousands of interesting, creative jobs available to high school graduates – if they knew about them!  Tom Yungen, HP’s head of Large-format media, told why he is a strong supporter of Fresh Artists, through donations of thousands of rolls of HP Media.

And as if Robb’s presentation wasn’t enough to bring out the Kleenex, he was followed by Ayo Keyes, a rising young fashion designer whose 10th grade artwork from Girls High is in the Fresh Artists’ collection. Ayo credited 2 Philadelphia public school teachers for “crossed her path” by calling out her ability and mentoring her through the up’s and down’s of her early years – through Parson’s School of Design and winning the coveted LHMV Paris Fashion Prize.

A. C. Moore’s Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Elena Piperno, presented a check for $125,746 for Fresh Artists to young art donors Olivia and Solomon Coleman.  Wow! What a night!!!

We’re grateful to all who helped behind the scenes to make it such a whopping success:

• Adam Aquino, Evelyn Bock, Carleen Bryan, Kellie Coleman, Olivia Coleman, Solomon Coleman, Valerie Coursen, Rosemarie Fabien, Heather Gibson, Lyn Godley, Jun-Ming Lin-Haines, Ken Johnson, Yatora Johnson, Robyn Miller, Bernie Motley, Bill Motley, Liam Motley, Luke Motley, Alex Overton, Deva Watson, Jerri Williams, Susan Yeager

A little “extra credit”

As with any creative endeavor, some of the best ideas are ones arrived at just a few days before an event. Several of this year’s “extra credit” ideas came because we discovered a few creative professionals right before the event that 

we knew would enhance the experience for kids. We are thankful for the contributions this year by:

• ACE Mentoring (Architecture, Construction & Engineering)
• Tech Girlz (Coding and design) 
• The impact of Fresh Artists: a living infographic showing:
  • A typical amount of art supplies public schools provide their art teachers
  • The amount of money art teachers spend out-of-their-own-pocket for art supplies for their students
  • The retail value of art supplies donated to public schools this year by Fresh Artists

A reprise of last year’s Dream Wall – the last stop in the Cool Jobs experience, where kids are encouraged to name their dream career before they pop back on their buses. 

Huddle and chat over lunch

A fixture of Cool Jobs is the daily lunchtime “huddle.” Convened by Event Chair Rosemarie Fabien, these informal gatherings are the time for presenters, guides and volunteers to offer candid feedback to the morning sessions, allowing for course corrections along the way. They have become a way for us share what’s working and what needs intervention. They also serve as a time for adult participants to get to know one another better and work together more cohesively. We are grateful to Kerry Shepski of Whole Foods who provided wonderful food for all our volunteers each day.

Welcome our North Carolina contingent

When we received initial funding for Cool Jobs from the Knight Foundation, they immediately saw possibilities for bringing this program to scale. A strategy they suggested was duplicating Cool Jobs in the cities where the Foundation maintains an active presence. One of those cities is Salisbury, NC. So when serendipity brought several representatives from the Salisbury area to our studio this summer, we extended the invitation for them to observe Cool Jobs. We’re grateful for the sustained interest of our new friends:

• Sherry Mason Brown, interior designer
• Kay Lentz, Outreach Director, St. John’s Lutheran Church
• Meredith Williams, Salisbury Middle/High School principal
• Leigh Ann Alexander, Salisbury art teacher

• Solicit strong leadership

  For the second year in a row, the Cool Jobs Advisory Council has offered us invaluable support and advice. Representing all sectors of the Philadelphia creative community, these established design professionals helped us shape and refine Cool Jobs 2017.

  THE IMPACT

  Metrics

  With guidance from Gretchen Suess, PhD, Director of Evaluation for the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, we were able to administer several surveys to gauge the effectiveness of this year’s Cool Jobs expo. Those surveyed included: students, teachers, presenters, guides and volunteers.

  Student feedback

  The student survey consisted of six (6) questions:

• How did you feel about your Cool Jobs field trip? Three options were given: Loved it, good day, didn’t like it.
• What three words describe Cool Jobs? (open ended question)
• What two things did you learn today (open ended question)
• Which was your favorite job? (open ended)
• Did you know about this job before today? And if yes, how?
• Rate Cool Jobs: 1st Place (blue ribbon), 2nd Place, 3rd Place, 4th Place

A total of 462 students completed the survey. Their responses were as follows:

How did you feel about your Cool Jobs field trip?

• 56% of students answered “loved it”
• 38% answered “liked it”
• 4% responded that they didn’t like it
• 5% failed to answer the question

Combining the first two responses, we saw that 94% of the students who attended either liked or loved the experience.

How did you feel about your Cool Jobs field trip? (open-ended)

• 187 students wrote: fun
• 171 students wrote: cool
• 103 students wrote: interesting
• 89 students wrote: awesome
• 73 students wrote: creative
• 55 students wrote: inspiring

Other words, in rank order, included: educational, exciting, amazing, enjoyable, great, unique, motivational, challenging.

What two things did you learn today? (open-ended)

Those that follow are among the 517 unique answers students wrote:

• Learned about different designers
• How easy drawing a cartoon can be if you break it down
• It takes up to 6 months for a toy product to come to stores
• Don’t let anything hold you back of what you want to be when you grow up
• How a 3-d printer works
• You’re able to do what you love while helping others
• What a graphic designer is
• Do what your heart inspires you to do
• There is more to art than drawing
• Everything starts with a small step
• I learned that architecture starts by scribbling
• It is not about the money, it’s about what you like
• Imagine, create, realize
• How to make lemon curd
• What I might be when I grow up
• Art is in everything

Which was your favorite job?

• Tuesday: cartoonist, graphic designer (combined these totaled 78% of responses)
• Wednesday: puppeteer, fashion designer, industrial designer (combined these totaled 81%)
• Thursday: pastry chef, architect, muralist, art therapist, industrial designer (these were all ranked close to one another for a total of 100%)

Did you know about this job before today?

• Learned about their preferred job at Cool Jobs: 244
• Already knew about their preferred job: 193
• Did not respond: 25

Source of prior information included:

• Several students included a presenter as the source of their prior knowledge
• Cool Jobs came to my school (pre-event visit)
• I read his cartoons in the newspaper
• My dad used to be a digital printer
• App developer: “common sense”
• I’ve seen puppeteers on Sesame Street
• Industrial design: Internet
• Fashion design: I looked it up
• Industrial designer: my teacher told me
• Fashion design: summer camp
• My sister is a pastry chef
• Muralist: my uncle’s best friend is one
• Magazines
• Baker: watching Cupcake Wars on TV
• Art therapist: randomly surfing the internet
• Architect: my art teacher

Rate Cool Jobs

• First Place ribbon: 299 or 66%
• Second Place ribbon: 108 or 24%
• Third Place ribbon: 27 or 6%
• Fourth Place ribbon: 19 or 4%

 

Presenter/ Teacher/ Guide feedback

Adults also evaluated Cool Jobs. Here’s how they responded to questions posed to them:

How they assessed student engagement

Audience surveyed	High Engagement	Moderate engagement	Minimal engagement
Presenters (none were teachers)	57%	43%	0%
Teachers	90%	10%	0%
Guides & greeters (20% were retired teachers)	56%	44%	0%

 

Length of presentations (20 minutes)

Audience surveyed	Too long	Too short	Just right
Presenters (none were teachers)		14%	86%%
Teachers		10%	90%
Guides & greeters (20% were retired teachers)	22%	22%	56%

 

Length of transition time (2 minutes)

Audience surveyed	Too long	Too short	Just right
Presenters (none were teachers)		43%	57%
Teachers		20%	80%
Guides & greeters (20% were retired teachers)		22%	78%

 

Presenter effectiveness

Audience surveyed	High	Moderate	Minimal
Teachers	90%	10%
Guides & greeters (20% were retired teachers)	56%	44%

 

Volunteer effectiveness

Audience surveyed	High	Moderate	Minimal
Presenters (none were teachers)	100%
Teachers	80%	20%

 

Participate next year

Audience surveyed	Yes	No	Maybe
Presenters (none were teachers)	71%		29%
Teachers	90%		10%
Guides & greeters (20% were retired teachers)	78%		22%

 

Many adults wrote in open-ended responses to convey student reactions that particularly stood out for them. Here are some of those responses:

Presenter reactions

• Most of the kids had very generic answers towards their future goals, like being athletes and hairdressers. But no one has taken the time to break down what they can do if they fail – a backup plan – or ask them what else they are interested in doing. These conversations during our Cool Jobs seminars are helping to build a foundation for the direction these children should be headed in, and I am proud to be involved.
• When we gave our plaster casts of small rosettes decorating gold frames to take home, one student said: “I will paint this and give it to my mom.” That melted my heart.
• One student asked if I was ever afraid of failure. I thought this was a fantastic question. I answered very honestly and stated, “Well, in short, YES! Absolutely!” And I also stated, “Everyone feels fearful of failure at points in pursuing their dreams. It’s a part of the process. This is where having mentors to support you in the process can be very useful and helpful. When I felt like I was failing, I talked to my mentors, took really good care of myself, and got up the next day and kept pushing through.” The student seemed surprised and comforted by my honest answer.
• I became fascinated and horrified by the responses too many kids had to my question, “What is one thing you LOVE to do in the world?”, and heard over and over “Ain’t nothin’ I love to do”, “Nothing”, “I don’t know”. Even when pressed, they simply could not name anything that excited or engaged them. But when asked, “Did you find anything today that you really loved seeing or learning about?” the answer was almost 100%, “Yes”, followed by an enthusiastic telling about something that clearly caught their imagination. I believe this is the root of the dropout epidemic. Disadvantaged kids truly have no idea of the tons of possibilities for their lives. They are warehoused in schools that have no time or the ability to open these doors. It made me angry and sad. I’m coming back next year. Cool Jobs is changing lives.”

Guides & greeters’ reactions

• As the groups moved from station to station, one young man began seated on the last row and moved closer each time we moved until finally he was totally involved and asking questions and interacting with the objects on display.
• You could see kids defensive armor melting as they moved from presenter to presenter. They felt safe to be engaged.
• This program should be available to ALL Philadelphia kids.
• We need to have a day of Cool Jobs for high school kids.
• The presenters were terrific at making sure even the quietest kids were engaged.
• My group was so interested that they practically got in the presenters’ laps! It was wonderful to see these kids come alive over the morning.
• Many of my kids didn’t want to leave. It would be great to have the opportunity to just chill with the presenters before they got back on their bus.

Teacher reactions

A teacher who has attended Cool Jobs last year and this year was moved to write us after the trip.

“I have seen an increase in the number of our 8th students applying for arts based high schools here in Philly, many of whom attended the Cool Jobs Expo last year.”

She also facilitated a class discussion and took the time to document some of the responses she heard from her students. They include:

• Sierrah said: “Today I learned many awesome things but the main thing that stuck with me was to keep doing what you’re doing and never give up. Things will fall in place.”
• Reya said: “My favorite job was the pastry chef. I loved learning about her job because I can see myself in the culinary arts some day.”
• Hyacinth said: “I liked the muralist because I like how he turned a regular wall into a piece of art and how he made the wall come to life. It is just like painting in class but it lasts forever and so many people get to see it because it’s out in the world!”
• Aniya says: “The architect was the best because he inspired me and now I realize I have more options in life in what I want to do in the future. I can have a job drawing.”
• Fatema learned that “some people actually like their jobs and don’t stress all day.”
• Chris learned, “There are so many job opportunities in art and art is not just drawing, it can be cooking, building, helping people so much more.” 

 

THE FUTURE: THE COOL JOBS INITIATIVE

We have big ideas for the future of Cool Jobs on our drawing board. The concept now in development is a three-part, year-round initiative based on demonstrating and educating kids about jobs in the creative economy to love for life.

Cool Job Expo – Our current three-day expo for at-risk seventh graders in the Philadelphia region, introducing them to the range of careers in the creative economy. Currently we serve about 560 seventh graders. This program can be scaled by adding days, as well as looking at adding a third section each day, an after-school (4:00 pm – 6:15 pm) experience for high schoolers. This could impact a total of 792 kids a year.

Cool Jobs Online – exponentially amplify the effect of the research and production of Cool Jobs Expo by creating a website that will archive and disseminate Cool Jobs’ presenters’ stories throughout the country. We will produce short videos both at Expo and in artists’ studios using the identical message – there are exciting, meaningful jobs in your future if you pursue them with purpose. We will add distinguished artists, designers and creative makers from a Knight Foundation city each year, constantly growing the breadth and depth of offerings to inspire young teens to stay in school and work toward a dream.  The interactive website will also have lists of local educational, cultural and artistic resources accessible to young teens in each city as it grows.

Design Camp and Summer Design Labs – a highly-focused, multi-day workshops with up to twelve young artists mentored by design professionals working on a real-life challenge in product design. We’ve tested this concept during the past several summers – with Knoll, with designers and product managers from Crate & Barrel’s children brand, Land of Nod and most recently, eight interns from Philadelphia University’s Industrial Design Department. In this highly interactive workshop, kids produce art and patterns that may ultimately be used in wall covering, upholstery fabrics, carpet, bedding and other products used in home furnishings.

 

We are grateful for everyone who helped make this Cool Jobs Expo such a tremendous success.  Please join us again to help build a better future for these kids, whose success in life depends on the active involvement of engaged, kind and caring adults.

           Please contact us to be involved in next year’s exciting Cool Jobs

                                           on March 20 - 22, 2018

"When I was in 3rd grade a famous children's author visited my classroom.  We were all drawing as he sauntered down the aisles, quietly looking at each child's drawing. He stopped next to me, tapped on my desk and said, 'Nice cat' and resumed walking. That small gesture made a collossal difference in my life."