Jessica Hickman and Brooke launched UpGen in Orange, NSW, after a chance conversation. The program teaches 1,000 high school students to recognize toxic workplace behavior and become leaders in agriculture and other fields, touring three regional areas to address labor shortages.
Chapters
Today, the founders kick-starting the project with a powerful message to their students.
They came together with a goal in mind. Now these two women are on a mission to inspire the next generation of upstanding leaders.
Sort of just hit off a conversation and we went, you're really brilliant in your field, I'm an expert in mine, how can we collaborate and make a difference and give back? And suddenly we're having coffee and developing a program to roll out, and here we are on launch day. It is so exciting.
Launching the UpGen project in Orange today, Jess and Brooke spoke in front of 1,000 students at James Sheehan Catholic High School. With a focus on regional communities, UpGen is all about empowering students to find their passion and develop the skills needed to navigate toxic workplace behaviour.
These school kids are going to enter the workforce, and I believe they are the upstander generation that understand their purpose. They have passion, they have access to technology where ultimately they from regional New South Wales can influence change all across the world.
For Jess, who arrived in Australia more than a decade ago, she's using her own experience of bullying as a catalyst to educate others.
Because I wish that someone came to me and told me when I was younger that I could potentially experience bullying in the workplace, because I could have recognized the signs much earlier.
For Brooke, her experience working on her family's farm is what drives her to teach the next generation of agriculture leaders.
We see such a labor shortage, and we have students that are keen, and we have industry leaders that are willing to guide them through that journey. So there's no reason we can't spark these conversations to kind of boost that uptake.
UpGen will travel through the Riverina, New England, and Far West areas next, and with the support of industry leaders, they hope to one day hold workshops across every school in Australia. Lauren Evans, Seven News.
