NSB Employees Help to Create Bright Futures

Claire Owens, Business Development Officer at our Forest Ave office, and Susan Driscoll, Financial Solutions Specialist at our Exchange St office, spent some time with students from the Bright Future program at Portland High School.

Bright Future is a group of young men and women that are new arrivals to the United States and are learning about American society through work, volunteerism, government, sports and social interaction. The program is run by Glenn Nerbak of the Portland Mentoring Alliance and Antoni Bazia and Ann Smith of Project Bazia.

Claire and Susan first visited with the students to share information about careers in banking. Their presentation was so well-received by the students that Claire and Susan were asked to walk the students through the interview process to help prepare the students for entry into the workforce. They began with an overview of the interview process then conducted mock interviews with the students to show them how to handle real-life situations that can make or break the chance of landing a job. After the interviews were over, Claire and Susan provided feedback to let the students know what parts of the interview were successful and what areas need improvement.

“Each of these students have overcome many obstacles and they are doing all they can to become a positive influence in our community,” said Claire Owens. “There is no doubt that through this experience Susan and I learned a lot about each student and their desire to succeed in life.”