Project Spotlight: C2CT (MMM #30)
Greetings all!
Madeline here, with the 30th entry in The Movie Minute! For this entry’s topic, we’ll be following up the previous project spotlight on Operation EPIC with another spotlight on our work with a Special Operations Warrior Foundation event: the annual College to Career Transition Conference (C2CT)!
Formerly known as the Strong Finish Optimization (SFO) conference, this event provides SOWF recipients with an opportunity to prepare for their transition from post-secondary education to the working world. Having attended the event myself during my internship with Poor Bear Stories in the summer of 2022, it’s a great opportunity and experience to explore new opportunities and what to know as students graduate from college and pursue their dream career.
Compared to EPIC, however, C2CT has some notable differences. Unlike the former that takes place primarily on a university campus (University of South Florida this year, and University of Tampa previous years), the bulk of the event takes place at a conference room at the Home2 Suites in Downtown Tampa. This is beneficial because not only is it a more calm environment, but it makes transporting equipment much easier, especially if one of the team members has a room on the same floor. The group of students we interact with (college students rather than high school students) is also smaller than EPIC, though this year we had twice as many students attend this year’s C2CT.
In addition to the conference room, we also travelled to other places in the Tampa Bay area with the students. These include a trip to the Power Design headquarters for student resume reviews, a campus tour, and lunch, as well as dinner and fun at Splitsville (Much like EPIC!) and a networking event at SOFWERX, where we also did professional headshots for all our students (and enjoyed some good hors d’oeuvres)!
Much like EPIC, guest speakers are a major component of the conference. The primary presenter is Victoria McCausland, who, together with her team at Strong Ties, gives presentations and engages in activities to prepare students with soft skills, resume and interview tips, personal branding, and other strengths that will be critical to their success, In addition to these presentations, Victoria and her team have the team engage in group activities and breakout sessions, as well as one-on-one personal coaching. Representatives from businesses and organizations such as Black Rifle Coffee Company also present important takeaways for the students, and conduct mock interviews to prepare them for the real interviews that can make or break their chances of securing a job.
While we obviously obtained as much b-roll and soundbites as possible for an engaging highlight video, the biggest part of the job is “video resumes” for the students. These are powerful videos that can be super beneficial with how students present themselves and their stories to potential employers. A video resume typically consists of an interview with the student, alongside stock licensed and personal media to showcase their education, experience, volunteer work, etc. While these interviews often go well into the night (especially on the last day where we shoot multiple back-to-back), it all pays off in the end as it allows us to put our skills to the test, and enables the students to present themselves in a way that is effective and powerful.
To sum it up, SOWF’s C2CT is another major component of the peak summer season at Poor Bear Stories, alongside EPIC and Legacies Alive’s Gold Star Family Picnic. While it can be a lot of work for us for four days straight, it’s still an important opportunity and an essential part of the work we do at Poor Bear Stories, especially with our mission of giving back to the community and utilising the content we produce from this event to further the mission of SOWF to support children of fallen special operations personnel and Medal of Honor recipients, and to provide SOWF students a new way to present themselves to the professional world.
That’s all for this entry in The Movie Minute. Wishing you all the best, and see y’all in September for a very special entry! -Madeline
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