Chocolate eggs and toy lobsters: Creative ways to raise children’s aspirations at Loomis Sayles
News article from April 20, 2016
“My friend told me this was going to be boring – boy, will she be jealous when I tell her how wrong she was!”
Sitting around a board table with the ‘boss lady’ (Christine Kenny) at Loomis Sayles, the pupils from Thornhill Primary School were not at all sure what to expect. They soon relaxed as they discovered what a fantastic, interactive day they had ahead of them.
The children learnt first about asset management and the importance of teamwork from Christine, then took a tour of the offices. Each and every employee stopped to look up from their desks, wave and smile. It was clear that they were excited to host the group.
Each team had spent lots of time planning a creative, engaging session to show what they do. The children rolled dice to win and lose ‘money’ based on the stock market, traded chocolate eggs and made important decisions as to which sweet shop to invest their money in. There was even a jigsaw puzzle with key transferable skills – it was wonderful hearing the children talk confidently about what they are good at.
Working on the jigsaw puzzle
In the break, the group said that they had always thought that working in business was about sitting in a big chair wearing an uncomfortable suit. They were amazed at how varied and interesting the different jobs were! The key messages around working hard and doing what you love really resonated with the group:
Carmen- “I didn’t know a lot about it before, but now I know what job I’d like to do. I’ve always wanted to help people. I’d love to have this as a job. This is another form of helping someone.”
Millen- “I thought business people were boring, but this was fun. I feel positive about it.”
To end the day, the group each received a goodie pack filled with Loomis treats – toy lobsters, oyster card holders and sweets. One child remarked on the walk back that her Loomis lobster will sit above her desk and encourage her to do her homework! The group left feeling inspired – they had massive smiles on their faces on the journey back to school.
A message from Hopieann, the SHS practitioner: “Thank you so much for allowing the 7 pupils of Thornhill Primary to experience such an inspiring session at Loomis Sayles today. As you could see the pupils were very engaged and learnt so much about the company. They have certainly been inspired to be involved in business/investment in the future.”
The group proudly displaying their Loomis lobsters
A message from Christine Kenny, Managing Director: “We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and I honestly think we all got as much out of it as the kids did. We are delighted to be supporting School-Home Support and helping to raise the aspirations of children from our local community.”
Thank you to everyone at Loomis for their fantastic support and participation.