Vocational Career Talks Philadelphia Rotary Service Project A Great Success

An unprecedented program of virtual career presentations by Philadelphia Rotarians to high school age students at Liguori Academy in the spring of 2021 has exceeded all expectations.

Like most organizations, the Rotary Club of Philadelphia had to figure out how to adapt to changes caused by the pandemic and face the realities serving its mission. Liguori Academy is a private nonprofit high school that is committed to serving the Kensington community in Philadelphia, one of the poorest in the nation.      

Back in March, the pilot program was initiated by members Joseph Batory, Youth Service Chair, Jay Pennie, club President, and Meghan Miller, Happy Hour Chair. Volunteers were scheduled for a six-week trial run of pairs of presenters on Fridays at noon that began on April 7. The virtual sessions were coordinated at the school by Mary Theresa Martin, Workforce Development Manager. 

Martin required students to research the presenters’ backgrounds and develop meaningful questions in advance of the sessions which were designed to offer both practical professional advice and inspire the school’s seniors who attended both in-person and virtually from their homes.

Much of what the students learned is to persevere throughout the development of their careers, understand that there will be setbacks, and that it won’t always be a straight line to success. After one of the presentations Martin remarked, “Many of our students follow paths in which they might not pursue college right away so it’s helpful for them to hear from someone who found success without completing their college degree right away.”

More than enough Rotary volunteers were quickly in place representing diverse careers in medicine, hospitality, environmental protection and recycling, education, entertainment, community outreach, advertising, non-profit management, and the high tech industry. 

Abigail Appleton. Workforce Development Coordinator at Liguori Academy remarked after Ken Myers and guest Janelle Coleman’s presentation “Sometimes it is so hard to feel like your dreams will lead you to success, so that extra push may be just what our students needed to hear. Encouraging our students to figure it out later if they need to; not knowing what they want to do right now can often be stressful and the reminder that it isn’t always like that is helpful.” 

Myers, President of Coral, a company he co-founded that provides hospitality services for the entertainment industry, invited Coleman, who works at Marvel Studios to join the presentation as they worked together on many projects.  

“This has been a very meaningful service activity. It is actually a kind of “literacy project,” creating and enhancing student knowledge about the workplace and potential careers,” said Joe Batory. “We had solid involvement of club members and many more have indicated they would take part in the project next year.”

The Rotary Club of Philadelphia currently sponsors Interact Clubs at Liguori Academy and West Catholic Prep. Interact clubs bring together young people ages 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of service to others.

According to Batory, “Given the success we have had to date, we should replicate this service project at both schools during the 2021-22 school year.”

“Thank you so much for providing such amazing speakers to share their experiences with our students,” said Martin. “Every member of the Rotary Club of Philadelphia who joined us has had such an amazing story to tell and so much wonderful advice to share with our students. We are so appreciative of all that you have done to organize this series.” 

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Thank you to the presenters: Lisa Leonard, Voiceover artist, Lisa Leonard Help and Healing VO; Dr. Vicki Bralow, DO, Medicine, Bralow Medical Group; Roscoe Brown, High-level security services, The Axon Network; Elizabeth Cieri, Education, Foundations, Inc.; Ken Myers, hospitality, Coral with guest Janelle Coleman, Marvel Studios; Joan Batory, Education, Environmental, Philadelphia Green Task Force; Greg Bradley, Development Officer, Habitat for Humanity;  Oscar Armas-Luy, Software Management, Phenom People; Christopher Kaufer, Surgeon, retired; and guest Joseph Leiss, Nonprofit management, Boy Scouts of America. 

If you are a Rotarian, I hope that you are proud of the work that we do. If you are not yet a member, contact us to join.

Find out how you can become a member of the Rotary Club of Philadelphia or make a donation to the Rotary Foundation of Philadelphia.