This month, 16 deserving students from Leto High School in Tampa, Florida, were matched with Nielsen associates to participate in Big Brothers Big Sisters’ (BBBS’) first ever School-to-Work program, a workplace-based one-on-one mentoring program.

Excitingly, this is the first time Nielsen has worked with BBBS to help develop curriculum for mentors to cover with the students. With the goal to inspire kids to know who they want to become, help motivate their academic performance, and empower them for future careers, the curriculum included a combination of industry guest speakers and Nielsen experts presenting on various topics—such as face-to-face communication skills, phone etiquette from our call center experts, resume writing and interview skills with Human Resources, handling personal finances, filling out financial aid and much more.

In the first meeting, the students started off with a tour of the Nielsen Florida office and then spent time getting to know their mentors over lunch. Jennifer Libby, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters, said, “I saw lots of conversations going on, and it really seemed students were connecting with their Bigs.”

On March 9, 2016, the participants gathered at an event hosted by Nielsen to celebrate their hard work and the success of the School-to-Work initiative.

The program has been so successful that BBBS is looking to add seven more students with Nielsen mentors in later this year. As Libby states, “This is just the beginning, and we are looking forward to seeing the relationships develop over the next year and a half, as well as seeing students set and achieve their goals.”

Nielsen New York has also teamed up this year with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City to participate in a workplace mentoring program. This program is based on the highly successful “one-to-one” mentoring model developed by Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City and matched 15 sophomore high school students from the Manhattan Early College School for Advertising with 15 Nielsen employees who serve as positive role models during the school year. The Nielsen mentors in New York City range from emerging leaders associates all the way to executive vice presidents, from the legal team to client service and product leadership. Activities focus on skills related to professionalism, teamwork, communication and ethics—all with the goal of supporting the students in reaching their full career potential while forming a close relationship with a positive, adult role model.