Country of Residence
United States
Age
16
Project title
Teen Meets the Pros
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Teen Meets the Pros, a student-led interview project, was created to help students unsure about their future career paths by interviewing professionals from different fields, sharing their real-world experiences, and giving students a clearer understanding of the career options available to them.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
www.youtube.com/@t2mtp
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Growth (We’ve moved past the very first activities and are beginning to have consistent weekly or monthly impact)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The idea for Teen Meets the Pros came from my own experience of feeling uncertain about my future career path. As a high school student, I often hear people ask, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" While it seems like a simple question, I realized that many students, including myself, struggle to answer it. We are expected to start thinking about college majors and future careers, yet we rarely have opportunities to learn what different professionals are actually like. This made me wonder" How can students make such important decisions when they haven't had the chance to explore their options? That question became my "Aha!" moment. I realized that hearing directly from professionals about their experiences, challenges, and daily responsibilities could help students better understand different careers. However, not everyone has access to professionals they can ask for advice. I wanted to create a way for students to explore careers regardless of their personal connections or background. That's what inspired me to start Teen Meets the Pros, a YouTube channel where I interview professionals from various fields and share their experiences with other students. My goal is to make career exploration more accessible and help students feel more confident about their futures.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
One problem I've noticed among students my age is the uncertainty surrounding future career paths. As high school students, we are constantly encouraged to think about college, choose majors, and prepare for our futures. However, many of us have little understanding of what different careers actually involve. While schools offer career counseling and other resources, students don't always have opportunities to hear directly from professionals about their experiences, daily responsibilities, and challenges. This issue matters to me because I have experienced the same uncertainty. There are so many career options available, but it can be overwhelming to figure out which ones match our interests and strengths. I also realized that students who don't have personal connections to professionals may have even fewer opportunities to explore different fields. Through Teen Meets the Pros, I want to help bridge this gap by making career exploration more accessible to students in my community and beyond. By sharing interviews with professionals from different backgrounds, I hope to introduce students to careers they may have never considered and help them feel more confident about making decisions for their futures.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
To help students explore different career paths, I created Teen Meets the Pros, a student-led YouTube channel where I interview professionals from a variety of fields and share their experiences with other students. My goal is to make career exploration easier and more accessible, especially for students who may not have opportunities to connect with professionals directly. Through each interview, I ask professionals about their educational backgrounds, daily responsibilities, challenges, and the steps they took to reach their current positions. I also focus on questions that students might be curious about, such as what inspired them to pursue their careers, what skills are important in their fields, and what advice they would give to teenagers considering similar paths. By asking these questions, I hope to provide realistic insights that go beyond basic job descriptions found online. I chose YouTube as my platform because it is free, easy to access, and familiar to many students. Rather than limiting these conversations to myself, I wanted to share them with a wider audience so that other students could benefit from the same advice and experiences. Through Teen Meets the Pros, I hope students can discover career options they may not have previously considered, better understand their own interests, and feel more prepared to make decisions about their futures. Ultimately, I want to create a resource that helps students who feel overwhelmed and more excited about the possibilities ahead.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Although Teen Meets the Pros is still in its early stages, I believe it has the potential to make a meaningful difference for students who feel uncertain about their future careers. So far, I've interviewed Dentist, Chief Technical Officer, Council Assistant to the San Jose Mayor's office, Santa Clara County Assistant District Attorney, Librarian, Manager of Santa Clara County Park Ranger Operations, TV Reporter, Software Engineer, Taekwondo Coach, Attorney, and Investigator of San Francisco Public Defender's Office. I've uploaded five interviews to the channel and reached around 1,500 viewers through my YouTube channel. While these numbers may seem small compared to larger platforms, I believe that even helping one student discover a career they are passionate about is a meaningful accomplishment. As I continue growing the channel, I hope to interview more professionals, reach students beyond my local community, and introduce a wider variety of careers. I also want to hear from viewers about which professions they are interested in so that I can create content that directly addresses their questions. Ultimately, I hope the channel becomes a resource that students can turn to whenever they feel unsure about their futures, helping them make career decisions with greater confidence and excitement.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
What makes Teen Meets the Pros different from traditional career exploration resources is that it focuses on real conversations with professionals rather than simply providing information about different jobs. While students can easily search online for career descriptions, salaries, or educational requirements, these resources don't always show what working in those professions is actually like. Through my YouTube channel, I want to go beyond basic career information by asking professionals questions from a student's perspective. Instead of only discussing their achievements, I focus on their personal journeys, the challenges they faced, mistakes they learned from, and advice they wish they had received when they were younger. I believe these honest conversations can help students see career paths as something they can realistically pursue rather than distant goals. Another important part of my project is accessibility. Career fairs, networking events, and mentorship programs can be helpful, but not every student has the opportunity to participate in them. By using YouTube, I can make these conversations available for free to students regardless of their location or personal connections. Students can also explore different professions at their own pace and revisit interviews whenever they want. What makes Teen Meets the Pros unique is that it is created by a student, for students. Since I am also navigating the uncertainty of choosing a future career, I understand the questions and concerns that students my age have. My goal is to turn professional experiences into relatable practical guidance that helps students feel more confident about exploring their futures.
How many people are on your team?
1
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
I take full responsibility for the entire project, from reaching out to potential interviewees and conducting interviews to video editing, content creation, and promotion.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next year, I hope to grow Teen Meets the Pros by reaching more students, interviewing professionals from a wider variety of fields, and making my content more engaging and helpful. One of my main goals is to create a more consistent upload schedule so that students can regularly discover new career opportunities and learn from different professionals. I also plan to connect with professionals in fields that students may be less familiar with, rather than focusing only on popular careers like medicine, law, or engineering. By introducing lesser-known professions, I hope to encourage students to explore opportunities they may have never considered. Another important goal is to get more students involved. I want to reach out to schools, student clubs, and community organizations to share my videos and encourage students to suggest careers they would like to learn about. Their feedback will help me ask more relevant questions and create content that directly addresses their interests. Ultimately, I want Teen Meets the Pros to become more than just a YouTube channel. I hope to build a growing community where students can explore their interests, learn from real experiences, and feel more confident about their futures.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
Through Teen Meets the Pros, I hope to encourage more students to take an active role in exploring their future and help others do the same. One way I do this is by reaching out to professionals from different fields and inviting them to share their experiences through interviews. By participating, these professionals not only share their personal career journeys but also help younger generations gain valuable insights that they might not otherwise have access to. I also encourage my friends, classmates, and other students to watch and share my videos with those who may be struggling to choose a career path. I want students to realize that feeling uncertain about their futures is common and that exploring different possibilities is an important part of finding their interests. As I continue growing the channel, I plan to collaborate with school clubs and community organizations to reach more students. I also hope to involve students more directly by inviting them to suggest professions, submit interview questions, and share what they have learned. Ultimately, I want Teen Meets the Pros to become a project where professionals and students contribute to helping young people feel more informed and confident about their futures.
