Arnerich Massena is the first Oregon sponsor of Rock the Street, Wall Street (RTSWS), a non-profit organization that works with financial services companies to deliver financial and investment education to high school girls to inspire them toward careers in finance. Grant High School’s Career and Community Partnerships Coordinator, Madeline Kokes, helped coordinate a group of about 18 highly engaged, enthusiastic high school girls to join our RTSWS cohort, and a team of five volunteers from the firm ― Reegan Rae, Shelly Kapoor, Danielle McDonald, Grace Gu, and Jillian Perkins ― spent an hour each week for five weeks at Grant High School sharing both a developed curriculum of financial education as well as personal knowledge and experience of the industry. Our fall session culminated with the students visiting Arnerich Massena’s office for an exciting half-day field trip in early November.

For students seeking to enter the workforce, gaining familiarity with the industries they are interested in, learning about available jobs, and understanding how individuals study for the careers they want is key to helping them carve out their own career paths. When the RTSWS girls visited, we were thrilled to be able to share our office culture, teach about the financial services industry, and give a sense of the different jobs we all do. We hosted several panel discussions featuring individuals from across different departments, offered presentations on a few key topics, and shared a casual lunchtime together to engage in discussion and answer questions. Perhaps most importantly, they saw professional women in the types of financial careers that interested them. You can see photos of the event below.

The RTSWS program will resume in the spring, and Arnerich Massena will send volunteers back to Grant High School to serve in professional mentorship roles with the students as they prepare for graduation, summer jobs, and college. We’re glad to be part of inspiring the students in their career journeys, and more than a little inspired ourselves.

To learn more about RTSWS and the work they are doing nationwide, visit https://rockthestreetwallstreet.com/home/.