June 26, 2012

Career Connections

Networking events are just one way we help students prepare.

From sipping “mocktails” while networking with alumni to volunteering in El Salvador during spring break, our students connect diverse experiences to possible careers.

Whether a student seeks a career in business or in the nonprofit sector, the Center for Career and Community Engagement (3CE) provides advice on how to get a foot in the door. What makes 3CE distinctive is its integrated approach to career and community service.

“We want to shift the students’ perspective on careers,” Minda Heyman, the center’s director, says. “We tell them that exploring their passions actually helps them identify what they want to do and what they want to be in the world.”

Many students come to 3CE wondering how their sociology or art history degree is going to help them get a job. The bottom line that Heyman returns to again and again with students is that the liberal arts education they have pursued at Lewis & Clark will serve them well, whatever they choose to do with their lives and careers. That solid foundation will give them the skills to adapt to change, especially as the economic landscape is being transformed by globalization and technology.

“The education students get here helps them become critical thinkers and problem solvers,” Heyman says. “That’s what people are looking for out there—innovators and graduates with an independent, entrepreneurial spirit.”

Learn more in “Building Bridges to Careers” by Romel Hernandez, originally published in the Chronicle magazine.

 

Career and Community Engagement  Lewis & Clark Admissions