For Wednesday morning we were invited to attend and co-host the community service day at <a title="Office de la formation professionnelle et de la promotion du travail" href="http://info-ofppt.com/" target="_blank">OFPPT</a>, in collaboration with <a title="Education for employment" href="http://www.efe.org/" target="_blank">EFE</a>. I think the invitation describes it the best:

"It's the time of the season again when students are eager to finalize their academic year on a high note and with a bit of fun. EFE Maroc in partnership with DOT and IBM will be organizing interactive classroom and workshop style work readiness  for Wednesday May 14, 2014, just the right thing to leave a major impact on the students before the summer really kicks in.
You as IBMers will be talking about your career experiences but also about your culture, where you come from, personal experiences and what type of tools young people need today to make their careers. You will pass on valuable professional skills such as teamwork, communication, time and project management, career planning skills to OFPPT students in an interactive and entertaining way.
The idea is to show that all IBMers come from different backgrounds but have reached their career goals at IBM - (no need to be IT person to work at IBM, need to have an open mind set for success)."

The first challenge was actually to find the location. 3 out of 4 cars reached the correct place immediately. I was in the 4th... and I think our Odyssey  was more or less this:

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Nevertheless also car number 4 finally made it and we could just jump in for the introduction round. We then split up into four groups and hold interactive sessions with up to 30 students. We covered many topics like women in IT, making a good impression at the job interview and being passionate about what you're doing to follow your career path. I tried to do it in French, which was a chance for me to "embrace challenge". It worked quite well. :-) The students were very interested and active, which we rewarded with IBM gifts and Swiss chocolates for each comment or question. Other groups even did some role plays or other activities. At the end of the morning all of us came to a very positive conclusion about the community day. I think it's a great opportunity for both the CSC participants and the students.

[Imges]