Approximately 200 local students dressed in ties, suits, skirts and dress pants visited the TPC Clubhouse on Tuesday morning to meet potential employers and mentors at the Training U: Sports and Business Education Forum.
Sixteen companies and 11 colleges held booths to discuss their respective industries with students from high schools all over the First Coast — from Ribault to St. Augustine High. Sponsored by THE PLAYERS Championship, the Jan. 29 event provided the students an opportunity to meet with company representatives and college recruiters before graduating and deciding the next step of their lives. Many of the students who attended come from low socioeconomic backgrounds and aren’t presented with many opportunities to network with industry leaders. The second annual event aims to make these connections available to everyone, regardless of privilege.
Christopher Jett, a graduate of Wolfson High School, attended the first Training U event last year. He has since enrolled at University of North Florida in the criminal justice program. Jett said meeting officers from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at the forum helped galvanize his career path.
“Their words, more than anything, helped inspire me to prepare myself for the risk at hand and be ready to take on what was in front of me,” he told the Recorder.
Jett already knew that a career in law enforcement was his aspiration. Meeting those actively involved in the work helped him understand what direction he needed to take and gave him both the motivation and resolution to make his dream come true.
“It was eye-opening to come here and people were like, ‘Keep going, there will be people that see you,’” he said. “‘(They will see) your effort and your drive and take notice and help you.’”
Jett said after the experience that, “First, I wanted to be a forensic analyst and now I am going to be a detective.”
Allison Keller, chief administrative officer of the PGA TOUR, provided welcome remarks at the start of the event.
“You’re going to meet people today who can unlock a door for you,” she said. “Take the opportunity to ask questions. As you think about what lies ahead, you can know that you don’t have to be an athlete to work in sports. You can be a graphic designer, a physical therapist, a computer scientist, you can even work with grass in the field of agronomy.”
Jett closed the forum with a few words of wisdom for the students. He reminded them that what they are going to have to learn in their careers can’t be taught by speakers. He said although he learned a lot from the panelists, companies and representatives, what, “it didn’t teach me was failure.”
“Failure is inevitable,” he said. “If you continue to let failure hinder your progress, you will not succeed. Take it from me, I have to work a job to help pay for my tuition and every day the first thing I think when I get home is, ‘What if I did this better?’ But you can’t.
“You can’t constantly regret,” Jett continued. “Regret is something you can’t leave yourself with because succeeding is 10 times more. The world never owes you an apology and it doesn’t owe you nothing but a place on earth. So, you’re going to have to learn to cope.”
