IT was quite a sight to behold: Wide-eyed junior high-school students (JHS) lined up, ready to start their day, and being ushered by their class advisors.
Rather than going upstairs to attend their classes, they boarded elevators that whisked them 18 floors up into an office inside the Seven/NEO high-rise at the heart of Bonifacio Global City. Instead of converging inside the four walls of a classroom and staring at a whiteboard, a big LED screen inside a huge hall welcomed them.
A usual field trip it was not-this was the ‘Day of the Future’ for Grade 7 students of Sen. Renato ‘Compañero’ Cayetano Memorial Science and Technology High School, with global private markets firm Partners Group (PG) as their host in their Manila Headquarters. The activity on November 12 was jointly organized by the Embassy of Switzerland, as the European country brought here its national tradition of children coming to offices, seeing their parents at work, and appreciating their moms’ and dads’ efforts in making a living.
Without their folks and guardians that time around, personnel from PG-Manila warmly greeted them. They served as the students’ ‘ates’ and ‘kuyas’ for the day and gave an orientation on things to expect during their very own Day of the Future.
Members of the firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) team led by Aileen Godinez welcomed the students from the school’s 7-Einstein class. They were the latest batch to join since PG participated in the initiative in recent years.
In addition, she shared that PG-Manila also takes active part in the Department of Education’s Brigada Eskwela efforts, where the financial firm’s employees contribute their time and effort to prepare classrooms before the start of a new school year.
Annual engagement
‘EVERY year, we’ve managed to also reach out to several schools within Taguig City to join the activity,’ confirmed Godinez. ‘We want to not only take care of our clients, but we also want to be part of helping out our community.’
PG-Manila prepared well for their 2025 DOF, as they converted their conference rooms and cubicles into learning booths for the young pupils. For about half of the day, team members of various departments transitioned from being employees to educators who shared subject-matter expertise with their early teenage guests. They ensured that the youngsters understood the basics of their various work assignments: from Information Technology, Human Resources, Finance, Compliance, and their industry-specific work units such as Client Content Solutions, Fund Cash Operations, Fee Operations, Investment Valuations, Structuring Solutions, and Fund Operations.
The students were offered mini-lectures, role-playing games, and work simulations that gave them ideas of the corporate setting they might potentially get into when they enter the labor force, a modern office ecosystem when they eventually trade their armchairs into workdesks, and immersing themselves in a professional culture where teamwork and collaboration are of a higher level.
In her remarks, PG Manila Office Head Neva Santos said that in Switzerland, every second Thursday of November is ‘Bring Your Kid To Work Day,’ or more formally, the Day of the Future, when parents bring their children to their offices and allow them to see their folks in action. ‘As a Swiss company, PG decided to bring this tradition here in the Philippines, in partnership with the Embassy of Switzerland. For firms like ours that have opened their doors for this activity, our real intention was to show students potential careers that they can enter in the future.’
Hands-on early on
TWELVE-year-old Luis shared that he particularly enjoyed the booths, where he had the opportunity to meet and interact with new people through PG-Manila’s employees. He appreciated their efforts in explaining ‘the stuff that they do for work,’ and the kind of ‘jobs that they do to fulfill their duties for the company.’
Luis said he initially wanted to be a teacher, but seeing the personnel in action opened his mind for other opportunities, and strongly considered to follow their kind of work, such as in accounting. He was also pleased to learn a thing or two with the booth tours which he said he will use in his Math class.
For 13-year-old Erryn, her DOF experience was ‘really fun, as I learned a lot of new things, especially about investments and things related to such’ that will serve as foundation for her possible entry into the world of business.
Erryn particularly appreciated learning about the topic, that ‘it is not just about a lot of numbers, but how ‘chances’ and external elements like events can influence [the investments that] you have placed.’
She expressed her excitement for future DOF participants, as they will ‘enjoy and learn a lot about their experiences.’
Potentials unlocked
ACCORDING to Santos, the takeaway from the DOF initiative is that ‘for every learner, there’s a world of possibilities and ideas with what they can do in the future, especially now that they are in JHS, and will be deciding on their college courses in a matter of a few years.’
Rightfully so, with the potential of the years ahead well right in front of them while they peered beyond the glass walls of the Seven/NEO skyscraper, and being high above the bustling streets of BGC along with their lofty hopes for a bright tomorrow. As their immersion at PG-Manila came to a close, Taguig City’s JHS learners have indeed taken their first steps into being work- and future-ready, their eyes more gleaming with wider perspectives, and before them a promising future that became more probable-thanks to the successful rollout by the Swiss Embassy and co-organizers like PG-Manila.
The Day of the Future in the Philippines is sure to gather momentum, as more firms can take cue from the noteworthy effort and create templates for similar runs. No doubt, with similar kinds of impetus, intentions, inputs and initiatives, the futures of more Filipino learners are being secured-one classroom and one school at a time.