It is a pleasure to announce that The Modern Story has recently teamed up with Google Hyderabad in an effort to provide TMS students with career counseling and valuable mentorship opportunities. Since Google is a such a respected and well-reputed global company, and since its employees are known to be some of the most promising, sharp and ambitious young professionals out there, we thought it highly inspirational for our students to meet Googlers personally and have the chance to chat with them about educational and professional issues that are affecting them, as they are about to finish secondary school and embark on a more specific course of study.

The first event which brought Google and TMS together was a career panel we organized at the Railway Girls High School on Friday, and the success that it had truly surpassed our expectations! The career panel consisted of 5 Google employees and was attended by more than 100 students. The Googlers represented a variety of backgrounds (some foreign, some Indian; some from a social sciences background, some engineers by profession) and worked in different departments at Google. In planning the event, we specifically aimed to have this diversity, so that the students can learn about different career pathways and get to hear about more diverse professional and educational experiences. And indeed, one of the main ideas that emerged from the career panel, and that was reiterated both by the panelists and by the school teachers and headmistress, was that it doesn’t even matter that much what you choose to study, as long as you are hard-working and ambitious and do well in your chosen course of study.

After a brief introduction from all the panelists, they went on to discuss their experiences in school, and the factors that weighed in on the process of deciding on a career path. Some questions addressed to them by the moderators, Marie and Lee Anne, were “What was your ambition when you were young?”, “What is the most important career advice that you ever received?”, “How has your education shaped who you are today?”, and even “Did you ever get into trouble at school?”

The panelists discussed their experiences using very personal and powerful stories, and the girls found it easy to relate to them and quickly joined the discussion by coming on stage and asking questions. We were all so pleased to see how comfortable they felt in the presence of the guests, and how confident they spoke on the microphone! Their questions, however, revealed the lack of information concerning higher education and professional development, but also showed the girls’ ambition and desire to do service to the communities. Many of the questions were about opportunities to do social work or help out a certain sector of the society; a lot of students also asked about life in college, and the type of education offered at higher levels; while others simply sought advice on how to overcome the nervous feelings they get before exams, or how to better balance all the subjects they are interested in.

The principal conclusions that emerged from the discussion concerned the importance of continuing one’s education, and of following one’s passion and drive. The panelists also emphasized the idea that it’s okay to not know exactly what you want to do at this age, but that this confusion should not prevent them from following through with their education.

It was so encouraging to see the girls break out of their shyness and interact with these young professionals, and hearing their passionate questions, and the determination in their voice, I felt so immensely proud of them. And then I look over to the back and my students are standing behind the tripod, with headphones on, filming the entire event. Mounika, the camera operator, catches my glance and gives me a smile and a thumbs-up. Tell me, how can I not be proud?

Thank you once again to the wonderful Google panelists, Marie, Lee Anne, Basanth, Ipshita and Archie! Thank you for your time, your passion and your warmth- your words have left a mark, in more ways than one.

For photos of the event, check out our Flickr page and Lee Anne’s pictures as well!

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