Many teens face uncertain futures after high school. Some aren’t sure how they’ll pay for a degree, while others may wrestle with choosing a career path. These teens might never reach their full potential without role models, and those can be hard to come by.
Enter the Novartis Teen Corporate Teen Mentoring Program (TCMP), where skilled Novartis mentors gather to support and inspire the student attendees on how they can increase their chances of professional success.
The two-day annual event drives home a simple yet powerful message: Aim high.
“Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve,” said Adrian Hawkins, Associate Director of Autoinflammatory Disease at Novartis, who founded TCMP back in 1994. The program he launched is now celebrating its 26th anniversary and has scaled from 5 to over 165 students.
Getting Career Advice from NFL Greats
For this year’s 26th annual event, more than 150 teens from diverse neighborhoods throughout New Jersey and beyond gathered on Novartis’ East Hanover campus. The two days also included a fireside chat with three retired NFL players who talked about their hard-won lessons, on the field, and in life. The players came to share their stories through a partnership Novartis has with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
And this year’s student mentees got to ask the players probing questions about their life paths.
Mohammad Bah, a Senior at St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, and Cecelia Kim, a Sophomore at Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, interviewed former NFL stars Nate Burleson, Tiki Barber, and Rob Robertson.
The football legends delivered unforgettable stories of overcoming adversity and achieving their goals.
"Most people in life aren’t successful not because they aim high and miss, but because they aim low,” Robertson coached the students. "Some people aren’t successful because they’re not aiming at all. I ask you, what are you aiming for?”
He told his story of excelling as a pro athlete despite losing his mother at age 11 and how he is now a Senior Vice President and Head of Strategic Sales at First Citizens Bank.
Robertson also emphasized the importance of good moral character, regardless of what you achieve. “Oftentimes in your career, and during your journey, you’ll have these titles, whether it’s in college or when you get a job,” he said. “Remember, you rent the title, but you own your character.”
The players were instrumental in showing the students that even if you’re a pro athlete at the top of your game, you can still face setbacks, says Portia Hawkins, a Senior Oncology Sales Specialist who has been involved with TCMP for a decade.
“They face everyday life challenges like everyone else,” she says.
Trying on Public Speaking and New Jobs for Size
The Teen Mentoring Program is also an opportunity for the teens to network, get exposure to different corporate roles and work on a group project which they prepare and present.
"Over 90 percent of past participants have pursued higher education. Some still stay in touch." - Adrian Hawkins, Associate Director of Autoinflammatory Disease at Novartis, and founder of the Teen Corporate Mentoring Program
Alexis Horowitz, a sophomore at West Orange High School in West Orange, NJ, was drawn to TCMP to learn how to sharpen her research skills, which she was able to do during the group presentation work. “I’m really good at researching if I love it, but it’s hard for me to research well and get used to doing that work with something new,” she explained.
Once their projects were finished, students presented their projects in front of their peers, Novartis employees, and other students’ parents, said Hawkins.
They learned about job opportunities tied to their interests and heard stories about how business leaders built their own careers.
While I went to school for strategic communications, now it’s my job to communicate complex scientific topics into easily understood messages. I work in oncology, and it’s meaningful to me. No family hasn’t been touched by cancer.
- Clarissa Ford, a TCMP mentor and Manager of US Oncology Communications at Novartis
Clarissa Ford, who works in U.S. Oncology Communications for Novartis, shared that her passion for helping others and background in communications empowered her to have a fulfilling career in pharmaceutical communications.
“While I went to school for strategic communications, now it’s my job to communicate complex scientific topics into easily understood messages,” she explained. “I work in oncology, and it’s meaningful to me. No family hasn’t been touched by cancer.”
Mentor Mary Kate Schmermund, on the other hand, shared with students that her career path followed a series of twists and turns that led her to new interests and a fulfilling opportunity later in life.
“I majored in psychology and was a therapist for a while,” she said. “While I really enjoyed working with people, I didn’t enjoy something so emotionally taxing.” After a stint in academia, Schmermund realized she wanted to be a writer and honed her craft as a brand writer to recruit people to the tech and science field—a natural foray into her current role on Novartis’ People and Culture Communications team.
Allison Dolan, a freshman at Hanover Park High School in Florham Park, NJ, said she attended the program to see “what [her] job could look like in the future.” She said Schmermund’s story taught her that there are different pathways to professional success.
“I was surprised you don’t have to figure out your career path so quickly,” she explained. “You can learn things at different ages, and you can change it up and make new choices.”
It was really interesting to see how a pharmaceutical company has lots of different roles and jobs that I didn’t know about.
-Elisha Domingo, a Senior at Hanover Park High School in East Hanover, NJ
Additionally, the mentors shared how corporations can utilize celebrity spokespeople, social media, and storytelling to engage consumers. They discussed major projects they had launched with non-profit organizations and Novartis’ $7.5 million pledge to Blitz the Barriers through a partnership with ZERO Prostate Cancer.
ZERO aims to address the disparities in prostate cancer outcomes among black men, veterans, and those in underserved communities.
“It was really interesting to see how a pharmaceutical company has lots of different roles and jobs that I didn’t know about,” said Elisha Domingo, a Senior at Hanover Park High School in East Hanover, NJ, who attended TCMP to learn how to parlay her interests in chemical engineering and sustainability into a career after she graduates.
At the end of the event, students mingled with their mentors and celebrated their achievements during an awards ceremony and dinner.
Organizers note that TCMP leaves a lasting impression on students: Over 90 percent of past participants have pursued higher education. Some still stay in touch, said Hawkins, who remembered a student from TCMP’s first cohort who earned an MBA from New York University and worked for the Obama Administration.
“He often says to me, ‘This program really made a difference in my life.’”
