Fidelity Job Shadow

Saturday, October 9, 2010, the JIW girls took a trip to Fidelity for a job shadow. We arrived bright and early at the Fidelity building where we split up into groups and took a tour of the facilities. The four floors were filled with desks, computers, and conference rooms as should be expected from a large business. I've never seen all the insides of one before and it was really interesting. Like with everything I do, I related each thing I saw with some memory mini play in my mind. The conference rooms reminded me of the ones in Nemours where I attended a support group for parents who have children with epilepsy. One look around the room and I can imagine leading a workshop in such a room. The screen would display a powerpoint of my own design. The people sitting around the table would watch me attentively. Okay, maybe some would be dosing off but it would not be a result of my oratory skills. There's always a few of those. But I would be doing an amazing job if I may say so myself. On those computers, I could see myself typing out a new advertising idea or a news story. I would only be doing that until the book I'm working on at the moment gets big, of course. The point is, such a big company brought to my mind a future of successful ventures. It's an exciting feeling and it only got more so as the day went on.

After the tour, we broke up into smaller groups and were put into different rooms as certain employees talked about different topics with us. First, Miss Elizabeth talked to my group about getting ready for college and handling one's money the right way. I am a senior and already applying to colleges (at this moment, I've already applied to four) but there were still some things I learned from her. She took us through her average day for her as an employee at Fidelity and I had a nice time listening to her speak. When she was done, two other people came in and talked to us about owning a business. We started with a game where we pretended we were selling lemonade. It was not unlike an old cell phone game called lemonade stand that I used to play on my aunt's phone. We had to make the right business decisions throughout the game so that we came out with a profit instead of in debt. It was very enjoyable.

The groups converged for lunch where different employees sat with the groups and we got to ask them questions about their jobs and experiences. The person who sat closest to me was Miss Nininger. I already liked her when I saw her name on her nametag as I'm always a fan of interesting names. I spent a few seconds perfecting it after she told me how to say it. Nye-ning-grr. She was a delightful, hilarious and insightful woman. She told me about her history in college and the military and how she came to be an employee at Fidelity. Of everyone I had listened to that day, I loved her the most. The entire day was an experience that I thoroughly enjoyed and everyone was excellent. I think hearing from people in a business really helped the younger girls who wouldn't usually get to do something like this. That's the great thing about Journey Into Womanhood. It's a program that exposes us to vaulable experiences such as this. I'm always so grateful for them.