You took the challenge and experienced 80 careers in 17 fields. You risked frostbite on frigid Winterpeg mornings waiting for the bus. You sacrificed your Saturdays. You know the deal. Now you can make a difference in the lives of our Trekkers as a Junior Staff Member.

A Junior Staff’s job is to get them interested so that they can take the best possible experience from the program.

Meet 17-year-old Brad Wiebe, an aspiring teacher and Career Trek graduate, who will tell you all about out it – in his own words.

...These are some amazingly dedicated kids.

Being a Junior Staff Member is about ...
helping these kids be themselves. It’s being an aid to them. A junior staff’s job is to get them interested so that they can take the best possible experience from the program. Volunteering six hours of a Saturday isn’t for every teenager. But for the people who do give it up, they’ll find that what they’re doing, and the satisfaction they get from it, is totally worth it.

As a Junior Staff Member I learned ...
that having people look up to you can be pretty scary and amazing, even if they are just kids.

The coolest thing I got to do as a Junior Staff Member was ...
helping this really shy, quiet girl come out of her shell to present her speech in political science class. She won her class election.

Career Trek participants are ...
the reason this program exists. These are some amazingly dedicated kids who are giving up their Saturday mornings to learn.

What makes Career Trek cool ...
is the staff. The many careers you get to try and the amazing (and sometimes expensive) equipment you get to use both make Career Trek cool, of course, but the people who run the show are what make this program tick. These are the coolest, nicest, and all-around greatest people I've ever had the pleasure of working with. They do it for the kids.

...I soaked up knowledge like a sponge.

Before I was a Career Trek participant …
I was a bit of brat. I wasn’t a bad kid, I just had a tremendous amount of energy that I had no idea what to do with. That kind of impeded my learning at school, because I was never interested in what we were doing.

How Career Trek has changed me ...
Career Trek got me interested in things beyond video games and cartoons. I couldn’t stop thinking of what I wanted to be when I was older and which university I wanted to attend. I think the most important change in me was my attitude towards learning. After Career Trek, I started to enjoy school a bit more and reading became an obsession of mine. I soaked up knowledge like a sponge.

What other young people should know about Career Trek ...
that it is completely worth their Saturday morning, whether they had cartoons in mind or just sleeping in. They should know that it’s a place where they can be themselves and not be shy. It’s a place where they can learn about some amazing careers and make great friends. But hands down, the most important thing that anyone should know about Career Trek is that it’s a place to have fun.

One more thing …
this program needs to expand to other provinces since it could benefit so many more children across Canada!