On September 12, the Career Development Center, along with its corporate sponsors, kicked off the Sophomore Career Experience with keynote speaker Richy Glassberg ’85 and a barbecue. The dynamic Glassberg advised the young sophomores to “do what you love.” He also recommended that the students should start reading the “trade Bible” in their areas of interest and, specifically, The Wall Street Journal.
Zack Linder ’09 agreed with Glassberg about reading the “trade Bible” saying, “it is a good idea to subscribe and using this technique to figure out what you want to do.” In the later part of his speech, Glassberg recommended that undergraduates should all get mentors early so that they can receive sound advice as they go through their undergraduate studies. During the barbecue following the message by Glassberg, the second-year students were provided with a shirt, a bag of goodies, free music downloads, and a catered dinner. They were also entered into a raffle for prizes, one of which was an iPod shuffle.
Through different focus groups and conversations with students in the past, the CDC recognized that a stronger relationship with the students earlier in their education here at Rensselaer was greatly needed. In response to this, the CDC created the SCE. The purpose of the SCE is to teach the skills and strategies that will be valuable to individuals in their career development at RPI. The program is held over a course of six months during the academic year where these sophomores will be exposed to resume writing, career exploration, networking, interview techniques, experiential learning, and mentoring. In addition to that, each month there will be a two-hour program and students will also be invited to attend outside activities and workshops that will enforce what was taught in the program.
In the year of planning the SCE, the CDC staff obtained extensive corporate sponsorship for this program from BAE Systems, IBM, and General Electric Co. Other various companies have also generously donated prizes and gifts to be given to the students throughout the year. In addition to input by the corporate sponsors, a committee of students consisting of Lisa Chen ’06, Danielle Failla ’09, Bridgette Kenkel ’08, Renzo Lombardozzi ’07, and Donald Pendagest III ’07 helped shape this program. The CDC singled out the sophomore class for this program because according to their research, second-year students had completely integrated into college life and were ready to think about future career opportunities.
Diana Leis Delker, the senior associate director of the CDC who helped in the organization of the SCE program, stated that shes knows “RPI students are busy and do not have a lot of free time.” Thus, they formed a program for the typical student.
Sophomores in this program say they are excited and the sponsors are also highly involved in the program. IBM representative Tamara Hilliard is optimistic about SCE. Hilliard agrees with the CDC that “it is the right time to engage and give advice [to] these students.” Delker and the rest of the CDC are hopeful that this program will not only be successful this year, but will become a permanent program here at Rensselaer.
