This young professionals group was a much needed addition to the large offering of programs from the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. The organization recognized that a skilled and diverse professional talent pool is essential to the growth of the regional economy and that’s why they launched Buffalo Niagara 360, a unique program for the next generation of local business leaders and innovators last fall.
Through an innovative, multi-dimensional approach, the program is designed for young professionals who want to work in stimulating environments, connect with and learn from others by expanding their network outside the workplace, grow their careers and business development opportunities and become more active and engaged in improving their community.
The program also offers employers key opportunities to retain and attract high-skilled talent, identify and groom the region’s next generation of top executives, and influence the future of the area and their own organization.
Last night's event proved that there are a great deal of young professionals in the region interested in both community and civic involvement to make the region a better place. The event served as great networking opportunity to connect them with one another and also the employers who seek their talent.
To learn more about the program please check out http://www.buffaloniagara360.org/ or find the group on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter!
GUEST BLOG: Steve Mesler, US Olympic Bobsled Team
I'd first of all like to thank Emily Burns and Buffalo Niagara 360 for inviting me to this great 1 year anniversary event. Unfortunately I am not able to attend as I am at my training residence up in Calgary, AB for a National Team Camp this week. It's Olympic Year around here and things are getting pretty busy, pretty quickly! Once we get going starting this week, it is non-stop until the Olympic Games in February. It's quite a whirlwind of a year, Olympic Year. Between training, racing and media requirements it's tough to find much free time to do the things I want to do with this year. In this brief opportunity to say hello to my fellow Buffalonians, I'd like to talk just a bit about how I got here...First off, I am an American Bobsledder that was born and raised on Potomac Ave. just off of Delaware in the heart of the city. I graduated from City Honors High School in 1996 and headed to the University of Florida. To make a long story short my track and field career at Florida wasn't heading where I wanted it to be so I did as many of us do when we reach a fork in the road, I figured out where I could succeed best and blazed a path. My path led me to the sport of Bobsled. It has taken me to two Olympic Games for our country and I've now found myself and my team defending World Champions heading into the Olympics in Vancouver this coming February. Not a bad 13 years since I left the Queen City! It's been a lot of fun and I have grown and matured in ways I never thought I could. I've learned how to win, I've learned how to react to a loss, I've learned how to plan and execute and sacrifice for those plans, and I've learned that once you are on top the work only gets harder. These are lessons that I try to instill in both the school kids I speak to as well as the businesses that invite me to come to speak to them. The lessons from sport carry across every aspect of life and this is something that I have really just come to appreciate in the last few years of my career.
I encourage all of you to follow what drives you. For me it was competition and success. To have the opportunity to put 'USA' on my back every weekend when I compete across seas and to have the privilege to wear it every 4 years behind the Olympic Rings makes me very proud of the path I have chosen for myself. It is something that I want to share with the city of Buffalo and I have already begun to set up relationships with various schools to try to let the kids of our region grasp that it is possible to do anything that you aspire to. When I was 10 years old all I could do is dream of being an Olympian. Now that I am there I try to keep in mind what it was like to be that 10 year old kid from Potomac Ave...waiting at the bus stop on those freezing January mornings day dreaming, or morning dreaming, of what it would be like to be that person. I thought that that person would be inspiring, honest, hard-working and thought provoking. That is what I aim to be today. The last thing we want to do is disappoint the 10 year old inside of each of us!That is and has always been my community message. For each of us to think about what we would have liked someone to say to us when we were that young, bright-eyed kid at the bus stop. What words of wisdom can we share with them. We all have a unique story and path that we took to get to where we are. I hope my brief story here can help us all remember that we were young once. We once needed guidance, some of us still do, and maybe sharing our story with others can help give them what they need.
I hope everyone had fun and I really wish I could have been there. Hopefully I will be able to join you all in the spring and bring home the Gold that I've been waiting to carry back to Buffalo since I was 10 years old!
Thanks and take care,
Steve Mesler, B.Sc.
2002 & 2006 United States Olympic Teams
USA Bobsled2009 World
meslerbobsled@aol.com
www.SteveMesler.com
www.TheNightTrain.com
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