Teenagers got the opportunity to take their first tentative steps towards life beyond school as almost 1,000 transition and fifth year students from all over the Mid West gathered for the largest careers summit outside Dublin. And they got a rare insight into the operations of some of the biggest names in business and industry at the StudentLife Summit which was held today in the University of Limerick concert hall. [caption id="attachment_39315" align="alignleft" width="304"] Colin McNamara talks about life as an engineer[/caption] Sponsored by Northern Trust, and held in association with the Bank of Ireland, Regeneron and the Defence Forces, the summit focused on bridging the gap between education and employment.  Roadbridge were well represented too with an exhibition stand, where we got to demonstrate some of the equipment construction personnel would use in daily work lives, followed by a presentation in the Concert Hall, ably handled by our own Colin McNamara.  Colin spoke about life as an Engineer and about the career opportunities offered within the industry, not just in engineering, but also supporting roles. StudentLife Summit founder Rita Kelly said that while the summit was a fantastic opportunity for students to explore career options, its influence would go beyond the event itself. We are creating a multimedia package that will be available to 84,000 students and will summarise the opportunities that are there for them, including many they may never have considered,” she explained.