Introducing Darina and Victor, who are part of our "Education with the Future" program, which is held jointly with V SU "P. R. Slaveykov" in Pernik and the project "Support for the dual education system", which the school implements with the Ministry of Education and Science (MES).
Darina and Victor are 17 years old, students in the 11th grade, "Speditor logistician" class, they love drawing, music, they dream of being happy and they know that one learns best from one's mistakes and the important thing is not to turn away from one's desire to go forward.
Darina and Victor are with us every Monday and Tuesday for 7 hours and it will be like that for the next two years. Together we decided to do an interview with them now, to ask them the same questions in a year and after the end of the "Education with the Future" program.
And their answers made us smile and strengthened our belief that the next generations are better than us and all we have to do is give them a hand and show them the way and they will walk it confidently and I hope , better than us.
How would you explain to a 5-year-old child what a forwarder-logistics does?
D.: I would tell him: imagine you are making toys and you want to give a lot of them to someone who is far away from you, and they won't fit in your parents' car. Then you call the freight forwarder - he will find you a truck big enough to transport all the toys, no matter how far the person you want them to reach is.
V.: A freight forwarder's job is to get from point A to point B what we want without it breaking.
In your opinion, what are the most important qualities to be a good forwarder-logistics?
D.: You must have the desire and motivation to gain a lot of new useful knowledge, to be communicative so that you can more easily accumulate knowledge from your colleagues, and at a more advanced stage to talk freely with customers and carriers. In addition, you must also be energetic to be able to quickly deal with the new challenges that arise every day.
V.: You have to have the ability to be an extrovert and be able to communicate with people without being shy. It is also very important to be flexible. What does that mean? To be able to react adequately in tense situations, also to be multi functional and to be able to do several things at once, because in most cases your work is interrupted at least several times.
What do you like most about this profession, do you want to work it?
D.: I think it's too early to say definitively whether I would like to work in this profession, but for now I like it, I find it very interesting and fascinating, but most importantly for me - I think it's a profession with a future.
V.: At the moment, what I like most is that people are talkative and friendly. While I'm in the office, there are always different topics of conversation, it's never completely silent. I would like to work in this profession because I really want to learn to be able to talk to people easily and not be nervous.
Describe your day at SIKO?
D.: My day at SIKO passes imperceptibly quickly, as I am directed to different colleagues every time, each of them works in their own unique way, I learn something new from each of them, and it is extremely interesting for me to observe the work process. I feel how every day at SIKO I improve my knowledge, and the best thing is that I have the opportunity to apply it practically, which helps me to remember and consolidate it much easier.
V.: A day at SIKO starts with getting to know a new colleague, and we are usually with a different person every week, so that we can get to know everyone and find out who we like best as a way of working.
What are the most important things you think you will learn from colleagues at SIKO?
D.: I think that, both now and in the future, I will be able to judge more and more which things from the theory at school will really be useful to me at work, and which will be useful to me as knowledge, even if I do not apply it to practice. From the colleagues at SIKO I learn what is most important in the work and from everyone I get advice on how to make otherwise difficult things in theory easier.
V.: First of all, the most important thing I hope they teach me is to be a good freight forwarder. The second is to be able to talk to strangers and not be nervous and the third is to be taken out of my comfort zone. For me, as a student who has never been to a real job, it is very interesting to see how I would do in such an environment. And this, indeed, is more than useful to me... even in life, not only professionally.
Is there anything you would change about SIKO if it were up to you?
D.: I don't think anything in SIKO needs to change. The environment is pleasant, the colleagues are well-intentioned, human and have a good approach to us - those who are still learning.
V.: For now, no. :-)
How do you see yourself in 10 years, when you will be 27?
D.: I don't have a concrete plan for the next 10 years, I don't like to think so far into the future, but I hope to achieve success in education and then in my work.
V.: In 10 years, I hope to have a permanent job, my own home and higher education. But you never know what will happen to you, I might like being a freight forwarder and if I do well and earn the trust of SIKO, I might stay.
What do you do in your spare time?
D.: I like to see friends, go to new places with them, create memories and, if possible, travel. When I don't have the opportunity to see myself alone, I like to draw, listen to music, read.
V.: I spend a lot of time with my friends, we go out with them - for a walk or a coffee. If I'm completely alone, I like to draw or play with my pets.
What do you dream of?
D.: The dream I most want to come true is to be happy. Happiness is the consequence of all the good things that can happen to me that I don't even think about.
V.: My biggest dream is to live in Japan or visit it at least once in my life. They have a very different lifestyle and a very different story, and, really, I'm very drawn to that and I hope it comes true.
What will you do after achieving this dream?
D.: Dreams have no end, so I still don't know what they will be in the future.
V.: If this dream comes true, my next dream, which is unattainable, is to go into space. Astronomy is something I have been very excited about since I was little and it is my biggest childhood dream.
What would you say to other children who will come to SIKO to turn their knowledge into a profession?
D.: I would advise the other children who will come to SIKO to show that they really want to turn their knowledge into a profession, not to worry that they will initially be lost in the mass of information and that the most important thing is not so theoretical knowledge, but the desire to learn how to apply the most important of them in practice, to be able to learn something from everyone and to have a desire to upgrade knowledge.
V.: If you're really into it and want to work on it, you'll be fine. Believe in yourself and don't underestimate yourself, because in most cases you know the answer, but you just doubt yourself!
