Are You Smarter Than a Fourth Grader?
Comments (3) Today we had the pleasure of hosting 20 fourth graders from Ms. Stephen’s class at Cornerstone School (Nevada Campus). My, what important lessons we can learn from ten year olds!
We host a lot of tour groups here, mostly adults, mostly people in the work world. Every once in a while we host classes from elementary, middle, and high school. It’s such a blast to see the bright eyes, the curiosity, and the excitement of kids for whom the world is still a place of wondrous mystery. They always have such great questions.
My favorite question today was, “What is Menlo Innovations doing to help the State of Michigan?” In the 9 years of tours I’ve hosted, I’ve never had a more important or probing question. It generated a tremendous amount of discussion. I talked about hiring people, how that has helped them do things like buy homes, take care of their health, take vacations, buy cars, and generally become their own version of the economic stimulus package. I also talked about how the success we help our customers create means they can also hire people to do all of the above. What a great question!
I find these kinds of visits to be incredibly uplifting because I see the future in the eyes of these children. They’re still excited, they still have energy. Too often the adults who come to visit have lost that edge. I’m always proud when I get people re-energized about their career or their work life, but I always find myself wishing that more people could get to experience the joy that we have every day.
I asked the kids whether they wanted to work here some day. All their hands went high in the air. One asked “How old do you have to be?” When I said 18, you could hear their collective sigh for the eight years they have to wait. I think they would start tomorrow if they could. One asked if we had “internships!” What 4th grader is already thinking about internships?!? These kids from Cornerstone are special and delightful.
Fourth graders excited about work. Fourth graders wanting to know about internships and when they can start working. Fourth graders who want to know how I am helping the State of Michigan. Fourth graders who knew that the word that describes the difference between checks we cash and checks we write is called profit! Fourth graders who knew that profit helps us pay for things and helps make the world a better place.
I hope I am smarter than a fourth grader every now and then! The fourth graders from Cornerstone have set the bar pretty high for that to be true. Thanks President Sanders, Mr. Bologna, and Ms. Stephens. Thanks Cornerstone fourth graders! You made my day!
