My NHBC 2021 Experience

Hi everyone! My name is Naveena, and I am a grade 10 student at Lester B. Pearson CI. Today I had the pleasure to attend the National High School Business Conference. Here are my thoughts highlighting what I learned. I learned many different things, about both mental health, the CPA profession, and university options.

1. The CPA Profession: My Dad was an accountant back home, which inspired me to get into the finance field. All this while I thought accounting was strictly about taxes, bills, etc. Today I learned that the CPA profession branches off into many different career options, such as analysts. I also learned that CPAs do not particularly need a degree in finance. In workshop number two, I learned the complex process to become a CPA; I initially thought you do your CPA test and automatically become a CPA, that was another thing I was wrong about.

2. Mental Health: I learned that there are different parts of our mind that inspire different feelings. The sage part provides positive thoughts and feelings, whereas the saboteur part provides negative thoughts and feelings. I also found out that there are 10 different types of saboteurs, one of which is the “ judge”. To elaborate on that, a judge saboteur is pretty much the definition of “ judging a book by its cover.” After learning about the different types of saboteurs, I was given the chance to assess which one I am. I am a judge. However, I did learn how to counteract these negative thoughts, and how to respond to someone that may pose as a saboteur.

3. University Options: I particularly enjoyed the part of the conference where university students spoke. I have no siblings, which means I have many concerns about university and post-secondary options. After listening to them, I learned that I can always switch my career path if needed, which is a good thing to know because there is no sense in pursuing something that you are no longer passionate about. One of the speakers gave tips on how to manage time, telling us what she does to keep on task. She said that she would write down what she has to do so she would not forget. It is similar to an agenda that you use for school. They also gave us a little sneak peek, at what to expect for our first year of post-secondary. They said that it will be a drastic change from high school, and the first exam will not go as we expected, but after a while, we will get used to it and our grades will pick up to expectations again.

I am proud to say that my group (Team 16) placed second in the Illuminate challenge. We had great fun putting it together, and are very thankful that all of our hard work paid off. I am especially thankful for my group who always put forward their best, always had my back, took initiative when I started to experience technical problems with my computer, and much more. I can most definitely say that we have come closer together as friends thanks to Illuminate’s NHBC.

The second challenge being the CPA challenge was special to me, because I love crime scene investigation shows, and I had no clue what forensic accounting was. It was an experience to remember; we had to conduct our own investigation and figure out who stole the money from a company, and how much they stole. I loved seeing the other group's answers, as I took it as a learning experience. Now I am confident that next year’s accounting course will be a piece of cake (knock on wood).

Overall, I had an amazing experience and learned so much. Thank you Illuminate for giving me this opportunity. I hope to participate in more competitions like these in the coming future.