Podium RVA's Teen Professional Conference Teaches Richmond Teens How Adulthood Actually Works

By Kayleigh Crandell · July 29, 2026 · 6 min read read

Category: Local News

Podium RVA's Teen Professional Conference gives local teens the chance to kickstart their adult lives — the middle school and high school experiences youth need come directly from Podium programs.

RICHMOND — On July 21, nearly one hundred teenagers from Richmond and the Tri-Cities gave up a summer day to learn how adults actually survive — rent, career navigation, childcare, groceries, the math nobody teaches in school. Podium RVA's 8th annual Teen Professional Conference didn't sugarcoat any of it, and the students showed up anyway, all in.

The morning of the teen professional conference opened with networking sessions, students moving between industries and asking questions that don't usually come up in a classroom. I’ve presented at this event in years past, going through the many variations of a career in marketing and what a SWOT analysis actually entails. We ran through the SWOT example on their careers – and the Pizza Hut brand. Students walked away with a new matrix on how to understand their preparedness as an adult, and why the classic Hut had made such a great impression on them through the years.

Economic Simulator for Teens

After this year’s free lunch, Podium launched their 2nd Economic Simulator – a teamwork game that puts students into a fictional family profile with a fixed budget, trying to cover bills and childcare without running out of month before they ran out of money. 

"Students worked together using a fake family profile and budget to figure out how to best spend their money on paying bills and childcare," said Corie, a Podium RVA programs assistant. "Most said they got a deeper understanding of the financial burdens adults face daily.” Her favorite moment from the game was a student who walked away from the simulator saying how much she appreciates her mom.

Kavin, Podium's communications and events director, started as a student in Podium RVA program years ago and has watched the conference evolve since. This year, he said, was his favorite yet. "Seeing how excited the students get when they get to meet the professionals and ask them questions they may not have had anyone really get down to details with," he said, "or here are some steps they could take to reach their goals." It all adds up to the youth being prepared to take on their careers, just like Kavin. 

Cassie came up through Podium in a similar way – intern, volunteer, now a member of the Young Professional Board. "I had the opportunity to intern with some of these same youth last summer," she said, "so it was incredibly rewarding to see how much they have grown in their confidence and leadership skills."  Watching them return with sharper instincts stuck with her, and so did the arithmetic lesson underneath the jokes the students told.

Mid-simulator, Cassie checked in on one team about their fictional family's finances with a joke: "I noticed your family didn't eat during week one – are you all doing okay?" (Real lunch, for real students, was provided all day.) 

One student answered without missing a beat: "We don't need food; we have each other." Funny, and also the whole day in one line.

A family that skips groceries to cover rent isn't hypothetical for every teen in that room.

Podium RVA has spent 18 years working with Richmond youth from a range of backgrounds. Founded in 2008, the organization started as an after-school writing program for Richmond teens and has since expanded into middle schools, community centers and, as of 2023, Hopewell and Petersburg. Podium produces zines and organizes open mic nights alongside its professional-development track, treating self-expression and hard financial skills as two halves of the same job, getting young people ready for a life they're about to be handed the keys to.

The middle school impact is incredibly important to note — Podium has deliberately targeted schools where literacy pass rates run under 50%, reaching students a year or two before most enrichment programming shows up at all.

That gap tracks with what's happening in Richmond Public Schools more broadly. The district posted an 80.1% on-time graduation rate for the Class of 2025, its highest mark in nearly a decade. Superintendent Jason Kamras has been direct about what that number doesn't say: Roughly half of those graduates have an actual plan for what comes next, whether that's college or a job that pays enough to live on. Virginia has required a personal finance credit for graduation since 2015, one of only a handful of states to mandate it. A national survey from EVERFI released this spring still found 59% of high schoolers don't feel prepared to build and stick to a budget.

For some of the teens Podium serves, the stakes sit even closer to home. Richmond's homeless count this year unfolded against a federal funding fight over the very resources that keep families housed, a backdrop that makes budgeting less an abstract life skill and more a survival one for some students in the room.

That’s all exactly why Podium RVA works on these practical skills with local youth – because a high school diploma is hardly enough to make a true impact on their individual lives, and therefore, the upward trajectory of young people in our region.

Programs Director Charmeya, featured in CBS 6's coverage of the conference, called this year's planning one of the most rewarding stretches of her year. "Creating opportunities for students to be themselves while developing their leadership, communication, and networking skills was incredibly fulfilling," she said – and pointed to the turnout, from students and from the parents, community leaders, and local professionals who showed up for them, as its own kind of proof.

CBS 6's coverage of the conference was incredibly helpful to expose the importance of opportunities like these for teens. Local newsrooms doing the unglamorous, unsponsored work of covering local nonprofits is exactly what Channel RVA wants to see in our community – alongside reporters like our own Courtney Turrin, whose ongoing coverage of Richmond nonprofits and the local economy appears weekly in the Channel RVA newsletter. 

This story about teenagers learning to budget for a fake family isn't going to trend nationally – for CBS, or Channel RVA. But it matters to the kids and parents who ran the numbers and felt empowered. It matters to the members of our community who build teens up with real-life skills. It matters to the every day people like you and me, who want to see the opportunities of a good life offered to every child – especially those who are homegrown in the Richmond and Tri-Cities area.

Podium RVA is already talking about next year’s conference. Eight years in, and this was their favorite one yet. Podium's next public events land in October and December, part of a year-round calendar that also includes after-school programming across partner schools.

Editor's note: Kayleigh serves as chair of Podium's Young Professional Board.