I was recently able to attend Catoosa County’s Rising Professional Seminar, which was held at The Colonnade Center here in Ringgold, and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity. I genuinely learned a lot about several different topics concerning the business and career world.

When I first got to the event and signed up, all of the students were given a nametag and lanyard, and were then led into a big room to sit down and eat the provided Chick-Fil-A breakfast (which obviously started the day off on a good note). After we were introduced by a few of the leaders, we did an activity to sort of break the ice between the students from differing schools, and then we began to break into groups.

The people within each group depended on what color happened to be on your nametag. Each color went to a different location in the Colonnade and worked with and/or listened to a new speaker. Each of the speakers had a different topic to help the students get a better understanding of, and as I mentioned before, I really learned a lot. A few of the topics that were focused on included team building and relationships, social media’s influence on careers, money management, business ethics, how to dress for an interview, and more. I felt that the chosen speakers did a pretty good job in making each topic interesting and sometimes even interactive. Although not all of the topics were necessarily relevant to each student at the time, such as the ethics of business and learning to budget your money, I am positive that most, if not all of them will be used at some point in our lives. And because the speakers did so well, I believe that the information they shared will be remembered when the time comes that they are needed.

Once each group had a chance to hear from each session, all of the students were brought back into the big room from that morning. However, this time, each student was assigned to a different table based on the number found on the nametags. When I found my table, I was greeted by a “table sponsor,” who would be eating with my selected group. Each table had a sponsor to talk to and discuss different things like work and graduation with, which I thought was very nice. We had a high-quality meal and then heard a final message from the people who led the event. Once we were dismissed, if we wanted to, we were given the option of receiving a free t-shirt and gift. Overall, I really enjoyed the seminar and I thought that it was put on in a very organized manner. I am thankful for the opportunity along with all of the knowledge that I gained from the event.