Now entering it's second year, The CICS/Accenture Mentoring and Job Shadowing program commenced on Thursday October 29, 2009 at Accenture downtown offices. 13 young women from CICS Ralph Ellison joined students from CICS Northtown Academy and CICS Longwood for the kick off this year's program. 

Students were chosen based on grades and attendance, and this year, all program participants are seniors. Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company with approximately 186,000 employees worldwide, and $23.4 billion (US Dollars) in annual revenue for 2008. The mentoring program was designed to 1) provide the young women with real experience within a career field to make better and more informed decisions about college and the world of work after high school graduation 2) provide models and mentors for CICS young women and 3) enable the young women in the program to better understand that transferable skills can be utilized in a variety of professions.

Each CICS student was matched with a female executive at Accenture based on a survey which identified common interests and goals. The students had a full day downtown, beginning with an introduction and icebreaker; goal setting with their mentor; a special presentation on how to get the most from your mentoring experience from Mrs. Cheryl Harris, BPO Procurement Services and an hour where they actually "shadowed" their mentor to see what she does on a day-to-day basis. 

The mentoring relationships will continue throughout the year with different topics of discussion assigned to each month such as Life After High School, Career Goals and Leadership. CICS Ralph Ellison would like to thank CICS & Accenture for providing this invaluable experience!

We look forward to a successful program year!