When The Forest Industry Is In The Spotlight: Star Power
Who doesn’t love a win—especially one where a small investment pays off many times over?
It’s easy to feel like a small organization can’t move the needle on an industry-wide challenge like workforce growth. But what if you could stand in the spotlight in front of your future workers, future customers, and future industry leaders? What would you tell them? How would you convey your passion for wood?
Here’s the good news: you already have the stage. It’s easier to claim than you think.
Our future workforce is sitting in classrooms right now—in elementary grades, high schools, and vocational and college programs across our communities. You have a direct, concrete opportunity to take center stage for them: to deepen their understanding of the industry and help them picture themselves in a wood industry career.
What’s the catch—and the cost?
There isn’t one. The price of admission is sweat equity without the sweat: an investment of your time.
• As a mentor
• As an ambassador
• As an adult sharing real insight about the industry and the world of work with young people eager to learn
A face-to-face connection with young people—as a mentor or a career day guest—costs very little and leaves a lasting impression.
At the North American Forest Foundation, our goal is to help the next generation learn the truth about trees and see a future for themselves in this industry. When young people understand forest management and how it sustains forest health and the planet’s health, they grow into knowledgeable consumers who choose wood over synthetic substitutes—deliberately, and for life.
Career Day: Your Moment in the Spotlight
Career day is already on many local academic calendars. Whether it’s a full-scale event or just a table at lunch, it’s your chance to step into the spotlight and engage directly with students—to answer their questions, dispel myths, and spark real interest in forest products.
Pro tip: don’t wait to be asked. If your local schools don’t have a career day on the books, volunteer to start one, or simply offer to give students an introduction to the industry.
What Young People Want to Know
• A day in the life. What’s routine to you is eye-opening to them. Are you behind a desk, or out in the forest?
• What jobs exist. Most students have no idea how many career paths this industry offers.
• Your story. How did you find this work? What satisfies you? What have you learned?
• The bigger mission. Connect your work to the challenge of pulling carbon out of the atmosphere. Give them the facts on sustainable forestry.
• Where they fit. How might their own interests or skills translate into a career here?
If that feels like a lot to prepare, relax—we’ve got your script covered.
You Don’t Have to Write the Show Yourself
Visit the NAFF site for ready-made resources, including our Career Day Slide Deck for elementary students. Use it as is, or customize and co-brand it with your company’s logo. Visiting younger students? The Truth About Trees kit makes a great leave-behind gift.
Bonus Benefits
Bring your team into the spotlight, too—employee participation builds their skills right alongside the students’. Want to go further? Consider building an age-appropriate field trip.
If kids don’t know a career exists, they can’t aspire to it. Spark the curiosity, and it does the rest of the work. Information, awareness, and understanding function like recruiting—at no cost to you.
Go where the future is: the classroom. Show up. Mentor. Build the bridge. Give the next generation a reason to care about forests.
We have teachers and classrooms waiting for kits, and printing and distribution rely on donations. We’d welcome your contribution—but when it comes to putting the truth about trees in front of young people, you already have everything it takes to be their star for a day.
Your investment: a few hours of your time. Your return: a future workforce and customer base that understands the value of wood.
Ready to learn more about how the North American Forest Foundation is changing hearts and minds about wood? Visit our website for the Career Day Slide Deck and other resources, and find out how you can help keep this industry thriving for generations.
Questions? Email me at adeford@northamericanforestfoundation.org or call 901-860-4131.
