Navy Pier recently welcomed our young people and our educational professionals for a Lunch and Learn event that focused on careers in the hospitality and tourism industry.

The group was met by some of Navy Pier’s employees at the Peoples Energy Welcome Pavilion, where they were served a delicious lunch from Giordano’s pizzeria. As they ate, employees from various departments like guest experience, marketing & communications, and engineering shared more about their jobs, backgrounds, and career trajectories. Each employee also spent time talking to and engaging with our kids. It was a great way for our young people to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into running a place like Navy Pier, one of the busiest attractions in the Midwest. The speakers also gave our kids a goody bag filled with items like books, kinetic sand, and other treats.

After the presentations, everyone had the opportunity to ride the Pier’s famous Centennial Wheel, a nearly 200-foot tall Ferris wheel offering stunning 360-degree views of the city. The day of fun and learning concluded on a sweet note with some ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s.

“The youth really enjoyed the trip,” Marlin Exton, the director of Mercy Home’s post-secondary options and career resources department, said. “They paid attention the entire time and joked while getting on the Centennial Wheel. And definitely, definitely enjoyed the ice cream! It was a wonderful event.”

Exton also explained that career exposure events like this are incredibly important for our young people because they give them a view of what is possible for them in their own lives and provides motivation and inspiration.

“It’s enriching, it lets youth see what’s out there and see themselves in these professionals,” he explained. “A lot of them share stories that our youth could identify with. They chose of lot of people of color and first-generation college goers [to present] so they were able to connect with the youth that way. … I’m a big believer in exposure as a way to expand the mind show [the kids] what’s out there, and it definitely did that.”

We are so thankful to everyone at Navy Pier who really rolled out the red carpet for our young people and coworkers! A special thank you to Tara Collins, the Administrative and Planning Coordinator at Navy Pier, who made the event happen and planned such a special day for our kids. We hope to partner with Navy Pier again in the future for similar events!

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