The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Steve Kent, Acting Minister Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement:

Program Encourages Students to Consider a Career in Entrepreneurship

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a program that is successfully promoting careers in entrepreneurship among young Newfoundlanders and Labradorians while introducing them to the many innovative career opportunities that exist here in this province.

For over 20 years, the Getting the Message Out program – or GMO – has been sharing the stories of successful Newfoundlanders and Labradorians with high school students, and continues to encourage our greatest resource, our young people, to consider careers as entrepreneurs. This year, the GMO program will reach 100 schools in Newfoundland and Labrador, and between 3,000 and 4,000 students.

Mr. Speaker, this is an exciting time to be living and working in Newfoundland and Labrador. We know that small and medium-sized businesses play a vital role in sustaining and growing our economy, with the sector employing almost 40 per cent of the province’s workforce in rural and urban areas. It is important that our young people know what opportunities exist, and that we prepare them to play a role in our province’s future growth and prosperity.

Through GMO, Memorial University students deliver interactive presentations to high school students as part of the Career Development and Entrepreneurship curriculum. Mr. Speaker, this peer-to-peer model has proven to be highly effective as it provides high school students in this province with presenters they can relate to, which makes information sharing fun, engaging and memorable. It also provides post-secondary students with an enriching and rewarding work-term experience, and many have gone on to successful careers.

Four Memorial University students are currently working as field coordinators with the GMO program: Stephanie Hayward, Brendan O’Keefe, Tony Granville and Philip Cave. These university students have not only generated a great deal of interest in the GMO program in schools this semester, but they have been actively engaging young people through social media. You can see the results on the Office of Public Engagement Twitter page.

Mr. Speaker, the GMO program is part of the ongoing work of the Office of Public Engagement to inform, educate and engage the young people of this province. People can learn more about the important work we are doing through GMO, and all of the great programs and services available to the young people of this province, through our new youth website, NLYouth.ca.

Thank you.

2013 12 03                                     1:50 p.m.