Joel's Thoughts: New discoveries, enlightening and painful lessons learned

More from Job Coach Joel on Giving Work a Chance Down Under

There is nothing more humbling than to travel to another country with different languages, pronunciations, meanings of the same words and the simple things like going to the proper passenger seat and drivers’ seats being different, knowing what room you are in, what city you are in, or even how to pronounce it and causing accidental mistakes that are embarrassing when you are striving to make a difference. Sometimes it feels like no matter what I do, nothing is correct! But having kind and supportive friends with MESNZ has helped me overcome my deficiencies and work to aspire to support the growth of New Zealand’s generational transitions to build the next generation of engineers who will innovate solutions to our current challenges. 

Thank goodness I was blessed to have such wonderful host families who deserve great sympathy for enduring me as a guest. In the process, I have gained such a deeper appreciation of grace and style and how families on the opposite side of my world are worthy of respect and admiration. You could say this is the real southern hospitality from the bottom of the world. 

Don't get me wrong; I love North Carolina but working to help a country of 5 million people whose skills are in recession because of a lack of interest to fill critical services is more poignant and can help me support North Carolina more. This week along with the leaders of Maintenance Engineering Society of New Zealand, MESNZ and I met with 12 schools all over New Zealand’s north island, including some rural schools to challenge over 600 students on the Thorminator, same exercise conducted last summer. https://www.davidsonlocal.com/news/give-work-a-chance-the-thorminator?rq=thorminator%20challenge

During this journey, I have encountered numerous impressive students who persevered with the challenge we put forth and came up with some innovative solutions and some are now considering career pathways in engineering. The dream is that more people work together and get to understand other issues and not just judge from previous divisions but work to fix our planet by us all giving work a chance. 

Living in an active volcanic region, the changes in weather, climate rising waters has made it difficult for homeowners to have stable property structures without innovative engineers who have to deal with soil erosion and other factors to make sure their homes don't get flooded or slip away from a mountain perch.  

I know Davidson is all about everything in Davidson County but we all have so much to learn from other places. For example, as North Carolina is about to go through another cold snap, do you sleep with hot water bottles? Many New Zealanders heat up simple water bottles to stay warm at night and to conserve energy costs. Sometimes old tech works and is cheaper. 

During this trip, I was able to see competitive national basketball games and uncovered more of the future fog by many of the students who have limited clarity on their plans beyond sports. Throughout the competition, I went around and posed questions: What are you going to do after your basketball days are over? Most answered, “I haven't thought about it yet.” That is normal but also scary. 

Was really good to pose the question, because it got them thinking about careers that are important that they never hear about essential pathways positively, only what they hear on negative portrayals on TV or movies.

Want to see some of the press briefings generated along our journey? 

I must now prepare for next week’s MESNZ conference, but I hope Davidson locals are responding to the options from the Give Work a Chance Job Fair and will stay tuned as we roll out plans for 2024 to grow the GIVE WORK A CHANCE in North Carolina. 

Joel Leonard and his Thorminator Challenge - Pukekohe High School.

https://demm.co.nz/article/joel-leonard-and-thorminator-new-tool-get-kids-more-interested-tools