For students pondering their futures, the Career Forums are a great way to learn about alums’ careers and gain valuable insight on life after Academy.
Though career exploration programs have been around at CA since 2004, the Career Forums as we know it today launched in 2009 as a way to integrate alumni into the school community and allow them to interact with students in an open forum during lunch. Alums share stories about their time at Academy, tips for college, and valuable career advice that are applicable to other aspects of life.
Jennifer Conti, Director of Alumni Relations, works closely with the senior Student Alumni Board Representatives to coordinate the Career Forums. In addition to attending Alumni Board meetings, the five student representatives, Deeksha Bathini, Sophie Carlin, Alaina Gwin, Eric Min, and Sari Schlonsky, focus on reaching out to alums who come from different backgrounds.
As Ms. Conti says, “We try to bring in a variety of stories that we think would be interesting for the students to hear.”
Whether they are in the business, non-profit, or medical field, the speakers offer a wide gamut of insight and journeys, showing students that there is no singular path to success.
While students gain knowledge as they listen to alumni’s practical, real-world experiences, the significance of the Career Forums goes beyond just that.
“As students, you benefit from hearing their stories… but then you also benefit from meeting these different alums and building your network,” says Ms. Conti.
By engaging alumni into the CA community, students are given the opportunity to interact with alums and create relationships that can be valuable after their time at Academy.
Since its commencement eight years ago, the Career Forums have brought in 99 different speakers from over 35 different professions, the most recent one being Mike Gross ’89, Director of Strategic Planning and Project Management at G&J Pepsi Cola Bottlers Inc.
The next speaker is Pat Boyd’06, Community Manager at PixelBeam, on Monday, February 27.
Those who are interested in attending should RSVP to one of the student representatives or Ms. Conti.
