On Tuesday, several hundred Lapeer East High School students saw a presentation on jobs of the future, preparing for life after college and the perks of staying in Michigan.

The presentation was sponsored by ThumbWorks, one of 25 Michigan Works! agencies that operate over 100 service centers across the state. Several speakers challenged students to take the reins of their future now.

Matt Hahn, the Coordinator of Business Services at ThumbWorks, summed it up rather succinctly: “You are most responsible for your own success.”

Hahn talked to the students about how their responses to challenges will ultimately dictate how successful they are in life. Using examples from the past and present, he outlined the characteristics that virtually all successful people hold in common.

Things like:

• Having a passion, and following it.
• Taking calculated risks.
• Being willing to word harder than your competition.
• Learning from failures.
• Embracing change.
• A willingness to stand alone.
• Aversion to mediocrity.
• The ability to persevere.

As you can see in the above video, there was also another presentation on the state of Michigan and its place in the economic future of the United States. Many of us tend to forget how unique our state really is and what it has to offer.