We’ve had lots of unique visitors to our production studio including live dogs and giant robots, but on Thursday, April 25, the studio of The Great Courses had a bit of a different look and feel. Instead of our typical director, editor, camera people, and professors, we had a collection of 8-year-old to 14-year-old kids, who had taken over and were creating their own courses!

Take Your Child to Work Day has been observed nationally for the last 26 years. The goal of the program is to connect what children learn in school to real-world applications in future careers. You can read more about it here: https://daughtersandsonstowork.org/

At our event, we hosted almost 50
kids. Every department at The Great Courses pitched in and offered an activity.
The kids were given the list of options ahead of time and picked 4 to 5
sessions to attend throughout the day. During the activities, they learned
about what their parents do and the different facets of our organization.

Some of the things they got to
experience included:

• The Technology Services team taught kids how to code a web page
• The Human Resources team taught kids about teamwork and diverse personalities
• The Marketing Creative team taught kids about graphic design and catalog layout
• The Intellectual Property team taught kids about public domain, royalties, and copyrights while they made collages
• The PD team taught kids about filming a course; working the production booth; manning cameras; being the talent; and post-production jobs such as audio, editing, and graphics
• The Finance team taught kids how to build and balance budgets and how to write checks
• The Copy team taught kids about writing marketing copy and about the parts of a sentence, by filling out a take-home “MadLibs” book
• The Virtual Reality activities got kids to experience VR with games and interactive videos

Because we are a company devoted to life-long learning, the kids all participated in a scavenger hunt full of random, fun facts (example: “A group of these is called a Parliament” and they had to find an owl). Another fun session mimicked one of the activities that employees enjoy: a monthly, competitive trivia game; so, the kids ended their day with a “Junior” version, complete with prizes for the winning teams.  

For the PD team’s activity of being the talent in front of the camera, the kids who chose to participate were able to write their own scripts and talk about their ideas for the next Great Course. And, the kids had some GREAT ideas! Don’t be surprised if our next catalog campaign has New Release courses about Harry Potter, Fortnite, and Jo Jo Siwa.