Mac’s Money Centre wants to encourage and support your quest to become money savvy and successful. We know that you all have dreams and money is one of the fundamental tools that can help you make those dreams a reality. We know that is message is old and boring, but the truth is that designing a budget is the key to making your wants a reality. The “B-word” has really gotten a bad rap! So let’s try and make it less averse. If we call it a spending plan and talk about spending with a purpose perhaps I can entice some of you to keep reading further.
The whole idea of tackling your finances seems overwhelming, an exercise in determining priorities and donning a straitjacket that will keep you from doing what you want. But that couldn’t be further from the truth! A budget doesn’t limit your freedom; it gives you freedom! It’s really all about being aware and intentional with what you do with your money. It ultimately is about deciding what is important to you and following your values. When your spending plan is aligned with what you want, it provides a roadmap to how you will reach your goals – and that’s empowering. You will find ways to meet your commitments and pursue a future that is based on your goals, preferences and needs for flexibility and creativity.
Hey, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that a plan can initially make you feel restricted but you need to see this is a temporary condition. Once you figure out where your money is currently being used, you can then decide if these expenditures are a good use of your resources. Is it a change to your life style? Or a realignment of your priorities? Of course. But once you start to spend on items or experiences that add meaning to your life it’s not so hard to give up some of the other things that you thought you needed.
Most of us let money take control over ourselves but a spending plan allows you to be in control.
A budget will outline the core costs of your living needs: housing, transportation, and communication expenses. But then there are the costs associated with expenditures that are, to some degree, discretionary and determined by your goals and values. Your budget is unique and driven by what you have pre determined to be necessary to make your life fulfilling. You are in charge of what you spend and that gives you flexibility.
Now you might be thinking this isn’t possible for me. But I’m challenging you to give this some thought. Designing a plan takes time and some professional input can be helpful. Come and see us at Mac's Money Centre! It’s way easier than you think and you’ll start on the road to financial freedom.
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By: Tanya Kett and Elizabeth DiEmanuele
With over 115 employers, Fall Career Fair is one of the largest recruitment events at McMaster. For many students, it’s an opportunity to connect with employers and diverse opportunities.
Fall Career Fair has also become a debated topic among some of our students. At the Student Success Centre, we’re familiar with why students decide not to attend.
We would like to debunk some of these reasons. Here’s why students should consider attending this year.
This is the Career Fair Catch-22: every year, there are students who say they cannot find organizations hiring for their program, and every year, employers notice their absence. This is especially common among students who do not have co-op built into their program.
Consider an organization beyond their name and industry. Larger organizations have many opportunities. Research the organizations in advance so that when you attend, you can ask about opportunities related to your interests. Even if they are not recruiting at the Fall Career Fair, there may be opportunities in the future.
We completely understand that this prevents some students from attending, which is why we have introduced Career Fair Access Hour. This is a unique opportunity for students to have more one-on-one time with employers who have strong diversity hiring programs within their organizations and who have chosen to develop those deeper connections. The Access Hour can also ease some of the discomfort of wading through crowds of people. For more information, email [email protected].
While this may be true, employers want you to attend so they can get a sense of who you are as a person. If you make a strong impression, employers will remember when they go through online applications. Sure, they may tell you to apply online, but that personal connection makes a big difference when they select candidates for an interview.
But you will be someday, right? Use Fall Career Fair to make connections. Do some research, talk to people, and learn about future career paths. The earlier you start making connections, the more you will build along the way. Plus, it is much easier to do this work when there is less pressure to find a job.
If you are still in doubt, consider stopping by for even a few minutes to get the feel for these types of events. Fall Career Fair is a great way to build your confidence because these are employers interested in McMaster students. The Fair could lead to your next opportunity.
Fall Career Fair is on Thursday, September 20, 2018. Learn more: bit.ly/maccareerfair.
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Technology has changed education. From online resources to course management, post-secondary education has been reshaped by the internet and computers. Among the many affected areas is critical reflection. McMaster University is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to address this.
In 2013, McMaster University created the Learning Portfolio. According to a 2013 Learning Portfolio Working Group report, the project aimed to “enhance the experience of undergraduate and graduate students at McMaster” by creating an online resource where students could track both academic and extracurricular experiences. Students would create online portfolios for themselves, documenting learning goals and reflecting on their experiences.
What has ensued in the four years since its creation are a series of changes and, more recently, a struggle between the university and the McMaster Students Union. The MSU has asked for the LP project to be discontinued, but the university continues to make changes to try to push the LP as an important tool for students.
The LP idea is a “major… initiative arising from Forward With Integrity” which is a 2011 letter from Patrick Deane that outlines priorities for the university moving forward. The idea comes from a group called the Student Experience Task Force. A SETF document dated July 12, 2012 introduces the project as a way to capture the entire student learning experience, while encouraging mentorship and personal critical reflection. The LP is part of the Teaching and Learning branch of Forward With Integrity, along with the MacPherson Institute (formerly known as McMaster Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning).
“For a lot of us, it means connecting all the dots in the learning process, taking learning as a holistic entity; what’s happening in the class, in courses, across courses, co-curricular activities and professional volunteerism,” said Zafar Syed, associate director, educational technology at the MacPherson Institute.
“It’s a way of capturing and connecting all the various inputs that you’re getting and making meaning out of that.”
The McMaster LP is a part of the larger higher education trend towards e-portfolios, an umbrella term referring to digital portfolios. E-portfolios have been a part of higher education academia since the early 2000s and education academics are optimistic about the tool’s ability to facilitate reflection and authentic learning experiences; ideas that are at the centre of McMaster’s goals for their own LP.
The LP launched in Sept. 2013. According to the press release, “[r]oughly 3,000 students, primarily in first year, [would] create portfolios as part of their course work.” The purpose of this was to introduce students to the tool, not to mandate its use, as research has shown that e-portfolios have to be student-driven to be successful. Syed says that many programs have introductory courses that use the LP.
In the past four years, the project has used a number of different tactics to encourage student engagement with the tool. After two years of the LP being hosted by Desire2Learn, the same company that manages Avenue to Learn, the university adopted a different e-portfolio software: PebblePad.
“A number of people who started using [the Desire2Learn tool] had found that challenging. It wasn’t doing the kinds of things they were wanting to do with this process,” said Syed.
PebblePad is not without its own challenges. The Student Success Centre provides links to four sample learning portfolios. Within these samples, there are pictures that are cut off and pixelated, text that overlaps and garish backgrounds colours. The samples look like blogs rather than an academic tool.
This sample portfolio was made in 2014, using the old software. It is still on the Student Success Centre's website as an example.
When asked about what measurables MacPherson uses to determine the success or effectiveness of the project, Syed said the nature of the LP makes that difficult.
They can track the number of users and number of uploads, but they do not know how much of the content is related to course requirements. There is no way for the university to track if students are using the LP after an introductory course.
“Some of that information is probably difficult to determine because the portfolio belongs to the individual. We can’t go in there and ask them ‘oh you created this thing, what it is for?’” said Syed.
Despite some hiccups, Syed is positive about the LP so far.
“If you’re going to measure it as have we achieved the goals that we put in front of us, I think, in some cases I would say yes. If the goal was to get more people exposed to and using this process, I think there’s been quite a bit of success.”
MSU president Justin Monaco-Barnes paints a much grimmer picture.
Each year, the MSU makes recommendations to the university on funding. Monaco-Barnes says the MSU is recommending that the university cease to operate the LP, citing consultation with students and professors about the effectiveness of the program.
“There are profs who have told us that not only has it not improved the experience but it’s made the experience worse for students in the classes. It’s hindering some students’ learning experiences. These are signs to me that something needs to be addressed,” Monaco-Barnes said.
Conversations about the LP have been taking place throughout the past few years. A committee meets to discuss the project and how to move forward and improve the project. Monaco-Barnes and vice-president (Education) Blake Oliver sit on this committee, representing students, along with other university staff. Their experience has not been positive.
“Some of the feedback we provide doesn’t seem to fully translate into next steps, which can be frustrating at times for us, considering this program is meant for the students that we directly represent,” he said.
The president says the MSU agrees with the importance of the different issues that the LP tries to address, like critical reflection and mentorship. He believes that the LP lacks specific direction.
“There needs to be a target. Is it leadership, is it mentorship, is it reflection? The way it is now, it’s so convoluted that everyone has a different perception of what it is, it’s hard to make forward progression because everyone has this unique thing in their mind that we can’t agree upon,” said Monaco-Barnes.
At the heart of the issue for Monaco-Barnes is cost, and he has not received a clear answer on what the university is spending.
Through a Freedom of Information and Protection and Privacy Act request, the Silhouette was able to obtain a variety of costs since the beginning of the project. To date, the university has spent $710,789.93 on the project. They are also currently paying for software they do not use, as they signed a contract with Desire2Learn and abandoned it in favour of PebblePad.
Determining a true cost of the learning portfolio project is difficult. The LP is housed under the MacPherson Institute, and according to the university, employees are not specifically tasked with working with the e-portfolio, therefore the labour costs are not available.
The university has developed pilot courses in an attempt to engage students with the LP. Two of these courses were Social Science and Humanities 2LP3, run in 2013 and 2015 respectively. The costs to develop and run these courses are unknown, and both courses ran for only one term.
McMaster has spent $135,000 over three years to fund “learning portfolio fellows”; professors who “developed research proposals that study the utility and effectiveness of the Learning Portfolio” according to a press release on Forward With Integrity’s website.
It is equally difficult to evaluate the project’s effectiveness because of the lack of both statistics available and goals for the LP. One original target has changed.
“There was talk initially that every student should have this and that it would be across the whole system. That’s a very high-level goal that requires resources and set up. I don’t think we’re there,” Syed said.
MacPherson and the MSU both rely on anecdotal evidence from students and professors to inform their stance on the project. It is unclear what the next steps for the project are, as one side says it can be effective because some students and professors have had positive experiences, while the other side claims the opposite.
The current Board of Directors’s term is up, but the LP struggle will not end with their tenure. Monaco-Barnes says he will be discussing the LP with the incoming president, as addressing the project is a priority.
Syed says MacPherson will continue to work through “user-case examples” to find out what the next steps are.
But is ending the project a possibility? Given that the university’s belief in the Learning Portfolio stems from the university president’s vision letter, this seems unlikely. Abandoning the project without an alternative means the university would leave behind a stated goal of their president.
The university will continue to foot the bill for a project whose legitimacy has failed to be proven in four years of existence.
Amit Sikder and Sophia Salem set aside time each week to help out fellow students, but the hours they put in are also an investment in themselves.
Sikder and Salem volunteer in various roles on and off campus. Both are Student Success Leaders (SSLs), assigned by the Success Centre to different units seeking to improve student life.
Salem is a fourth-year English and history major looking to go to teacher’s college. She started working as an SSL last year and intends to continue with the program when she returns for a fifth year.
For Salem, the program is a give and take. As with a job, she’s expected to fulfill certain duties, but she’s also able to turn to mentors for advice and attend workshops on public speaking—a skill she says has always come as a challenge.
“One of the things we do at the beginning of the year is goal-setting, and one of mine was to get in front of a group and present,” said Salem.
After a “super awkward and embarrassing” first experience as a presenter, Salem was disappointed but not deterred. She went from presenting in front of one person to speaking to a hundred people when she recently hosted an orientation day.
On the volunteer experience she said, “We’re also doing it for ourselves, and I don’t think that’s being selfish.”
It’s not surprising that students have been making the most of volunteer opportunities to develop their leadership skills.
A recent study sponsored by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario confirmed what seems intuitive: that students engaged in supportive programs on campus are likely to develop key skills for school and the workplace.
The study tracked the progress of students in the University of Guelph’s Peer Helpers Program over the course of three years. Researchers compared their progress to those in comparable programs and to students who were not involved, measuring skills like “managing self,” “communicating,” and “mobilizing innovation and change.”
The U of G researchers didn’t find the same skill development in students engaged off-campus and those who weren’t engaged at all.
Sikder, a third-year student who’s been involved on campus and in the community, said volunteering on campus has its unique perks.
His SSL placement is in the Student Wellness Centre, where he’s helped with November’s Stomp Out Stigma campaign and the MacSecret initiative.
“I really enjoy networking with people my own age,” he said. “And when you’re just starting out, you need guidance and mentorship. There are programs on campus designed for people in those situations.”
A biology and psychology student aspiring to work in medicine, Sikder said his volunteer experience is helping him communicate with more confidence.
“I want to be someone [patients] can trust to get help,” he said.
Fortunately, Sikder said, he’s not in a difficult financial position and doesn’t have to take on a part-time job.
Shaimaa Abousidou shares that perspective. A fellow SSL, she studies full-time and commutes from Brampton, which doesn’t leave much time for a job in Hamilton. Thankfully, she said, income isn’t a major issue.
In the career assistance unit, Abousidou reviews students’ resumes and leads professional development workshops.
“I treat it as a job. It’s a very formal process and students respect what you do for them,” she said.
Anna D’Angela, a graduating student who’s been volunteering all four of her years at Mac, echoed this sentiment.
“Maybe it’s just the type of person I am. I don’t see much of a difference between a job or a volunteer position,” she said.
D’Angela started out as a delegate for the Horizons Conference in her first year, and has been involved with the conference since. This past summer, she was a coordinator and was able to see her Horizons experience come full circle.
“A lot of first years need to figure out where they’re going,” said D’Angela. “Getting involved and volunteering showed me what I want to be as a person.”
In the midst of second semester, summer might be the furthest thing from students’ minds. But the MSU and its partners are looking even further ahead: to Welcome Week.
As faculty societies begin to gear up for another year of planning for the incoming first-years, the Student Success Centre (SSC) and the MSU, as part of the Welcome Week Review subcommittee of the Student Services Committee, have just compiled their financial report from Welcome Week 2012.
The report comes in the wake of last year’s changes to orientation fees. In the past, incoming first-years had to register and pay for a MacPass, allowing them entry for the week’s events; they no longer have to, and are instead automatically charged fees.
In a campaign led by then-MSU president Matt Dillon-Leitch, the 2012 annual general assembly met its quorum of three percent of the student body for the first time in 17 years. Because it had the required 601 students, all votes passed were binding. And the students chose to implement the $110 mandatory fee for Welcome Week for new first-years.
The aim was to create a system with a widely bought but reasonably priced pass in order to have a “bigger and better” Welcome Week.
But despite the ample cash and months for all of the parties to report back, the finances remain unclear.
“This is our first year of developing what this consolidated financial report is,” explained Gina Robinson, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Student Success Centre.
But David Campbell, MSU VP (Administration), added that of the current breakdown, “we didn’t find any drastic areas that are way off.”
The $110 spent by each student is split between the MSU, the Student Success Centre, off-campus residence life, swag and miscellaneous merchandise, and the nine different faculties.
Campbell noted that there was some chance a “few dollars here and there” might be shifted from one division to another, but that the total value of the levy would stay consistent, potentially being indexed to CPI.
Although the breakdown was good, Campbell and Robinson explained that the reports sent to them from the faculty societies were far from consistent.
“Some of the statements weren’t really well put together,” said Robinson. “They didn’t always add [up] properly.”
Each faculty received $11 per student, but most supplemented this basic fee with additional money from their faculty societies.
“There were some faculties we had to go back to and ask for a second round of reporting, but there were no major [discrepancies],” Campbell said. “There’s nobody we suspect that egregiously misspent.”
He elaborated by saying that the faculties had no real guidelines for determining what constituted a Welcome Week expense.
Things like summer rep training or post-Welcome Week rep appreciation create some ambiguity when it comes to budgeting and reporting. And certain expenditures, like last-minute rain locations for faculty day, have resulted in misrepresented budgets and false deficits.
With this in mind, the faculty expenditures will be confirmed, said Campbell, but he didn’t expect the differences determined from clearing up ambiguity to amount to a lot of money.
Both Robinson and Campbell described their new roles as “gatekeepers” for the faculty finances, which are compiled and streamlined by the Office of Student Affairs for the first time this year.
“I feel really good about it because that way we can account to the student body exactly,” Robinson said.
The MSU and the Student Success Centre, like the faculties, received funds from the guaranteed sale of MacPasses to all first years.
The MSU and its divisions of Avtek and Campus Events are responsible for putting on Welcome Week concerts; this year, the performances by the Sheepdogs and Steve Angello cost roughly $40,000 and $50,000 respectively, including production costs, making them some of the biggest concerts Welcome Week has ever seen.
Meanwhile, the Student Success Centre offered a range of programming similar to what it has in past years, including $16000 spent on the Summer reading Program and $10,000 spent on the IRIS theatre production. It also funded the off-campus students’ Sunday night social, spending $7,000 as part of their goal to expand programming for off-campus students.
Within the course of just a few days, Mac students have come to recognize the floating blue balloon and the #upfromhere and immediately think: Jacob Brodka.
RELATED: Selected questions and answers from our interview with Jacob
Brodka prides himself on being from outside the “MSU bubble,” having gained much of his experience through Transition and Orientation Planning at the Student Success Centre and through the CLAY and HORIZONS conferences.
For being a second-year student, Brodka speaks with a clarity and confidence that would be more characteristic of a seasoned politician. But he still exhibits an approachability and genuine interest in students that is polished but energetic – a reflection of his overall young, eager campaign team.
“I’m interested in creating a new dialogue with people who aren’t traditionally involved with the MSU and with voting. If you do generate that buzz and get people excited about change … you’ve got that many more people that know what the MSU is doing.”
Brodka hopes to harness student interest and bring a wider group of stakeholders together in a Change Forum, where student ideas are nurtured.
Like other candidates, Brodka believes campus capacity is the most pressing student concern. He is forthright in admitting that the MSU has limited sway over University finances, but must use its lobbying power to ensure an adequate amount of learning spaces for the future.
“Someone can’t wake up MSU president and somehow magically create new classroom sizes. This is a lobbying point; this is something that involves the government, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be having the discussions.”
With a ten-point campaign, the actual practicality and feasibility of developing all these wide-ranging initiatives within a one-year term seems dubious.
Innovation, change and creativity are central components of the Brodka campaign, but his limited experience in navigating administrative policy and being part of a consensus-building process may hinder his momentum.
Of all the campaigns, Brodka’s is probably the most concerned with creating buzz and bringing new voters into the fold while maintaining their interests. But in an effort to do that he may lose sight of all the ambitious initiatives he has put forward.
Welcome Week has the potential to make or break a first year’s experience at McMaster. But it’s difficult to say what this year’s batch of first year students thought about their Welcome Week.
The Student Success Centre (SSC) had originally scheduled Welcome Week focus groups for Nov. 21 and Nov. 22 in which first-year students are invited to voice their opinions on their Welcome Week. In the past, the SSC has attracted approximately 15 students per focus group. This year, no students signed up.
According to Rachel Nelson, SSC Events Coordinator, the Centre is currently looking into why this occurred. Students were notified of the sessions via a mass email notification sent to their McMaster emails.
The MSU already conducted Welcome Week focus groups in early October. These groups mostly consisted of SRA members who had held a variety of positions in Welcome Week. The groups looked at the purpose of Welcome Week, scheduling, levy fees, and Welcome Week representatives.
While the MSU coordinates some of the larger events such as the PJ Parade and Faculty Day/Night, the SSC is responsible for organizing move-in, distributing MacPasses and co-ordinating MACademics sessions.
MACademics are the school-oriented sessions run during Welcome Week in order to prepare first year students for the realities they will face in university. This year some sessions attracted up to 100 participants. For the first time, SSC also offered sessions tailored specifically for arts-based students and science-based students.
However, questions have been raised as to whether Welcome Week should have such a heavy academic focus. MSU Executives David Campbell and Huzaifa Saeed have put together a proposal to recommend an “Academic-focused Welcome Week” occurring the week after Welcome Week.
David Campbell, VP Administration noted that it is worth expanding MACademics due to its clear value to students. But he stated that, “Welcome Week should focus on social networking and getting your roots settled … which research shows is essential to academic success and retention.”
The MSU proposal would also aim to involve faculty societies and get more faculty-focused academic support for first year students. However, Campbell noted that this requires a significant amount of planning and resources.
With possible changes looming, it remains unclear what exactly first years think about their Welcome Week experiences. The SSC distributed a First Year Transition Survey earlier in November to ask new students about their overall experience so far. 1,000 students responded to this survey. With plans for Welcome Week hanging in the balance, the time for first year students to speak up is running out.
By Janice Phonepraseuth
OSCARplus, McMaster’s online career portal, has a "No-Show Policy" that is effective when students who have signed up for an event fail to show up and fail to cancel their registration. It seems, however, that students don’t know about it.
The policy states that after the first and second "no-shows," students will receive a warning email from the campus office. After the third "no-show," students will receive an email with a contact for the career centre. The student then has to explain why they didn't attend the events.
If there is no justification given for why the student has missed the event, the student will be barred from signing up for any more events for the remainder of the academic year. They will be able to register for events again in September of the following academic year.
When entering the event, students are asked to present their student ID cards, which will provide information that is used to track the student’s attendance.
Although the policy was implemented in 2007, many students do not know about it. The Student Accountability Policy is not stated on the OSCARplus website itself, but is found through a link under "Student Resources."
It was created by a student accountability committee, and is supported by career and co-op related offices in the faculties of business, engineering, social sciences, and science.
Students, upper-year and first-year, were surprised to hear about this policy and thought it should be clarified.
Souzan Mirza, a first year student, said, "I didn't even know about the policy until I got the first email. When I tried to find it, I didn't find it through legitimate routes, I found it through the MacInsiders website which isn't run by the school but the students."
"I don't condone it; I think there should be more than 3 strikes before you're out. People may want to sign up for many things and things happen and they can't make it,” said Lindsay Ceschia, a second year Honours Social Psychology student. “They should put something visible that everyone can see right when they are signing up,"
Gisela Oliveira, Employment Services Coordinator at McMaster's Student Success Centre, explained why the policy was established.
"We were having a lot of trouble with attendance for these events. Companies were coming on campus with a specific number of guests in mind, when only half of that amount showed up," she said.
"The issue here is kind of bi-fold: first is missed opportunities for students, and second is the school's relationship with the employers."
By following this procedure, students get their opportunity to participate in these events, and the school's relationship with the employer is unharmed.
"I thought it was a bit much that it's for the whole year, but I guess it makes sense because they don't want people registering for the events and not showing up," said Mirza.
One fourth-year honours political science and religious studies student agreed. “I understand the reasoning behind the switch,” he said, “but the fact that they’re limiting student opportunities for success is a little discouraging.”
The policy was set up to ensure students who signed up for these events showed up. If they cannot attend, students must cancel their registration online by 11:55pm the night before the event on OSCARplus, or by 9 a.m. on the day of the event, by phone or in-person. Students who fail to do so are marked as a "no-show."
Oliveira noted that there are exceptions for students who become ill shortly before the event takes place.
"So when we send you the ‘no-show’ email, you contact us and explain to us that you were ill, and the ‘no-show’ is removed. There are exceptions," said Oliveira.
“It was implemented…to teach accountability to students and also to keep the relationships we have with employers,” she explained. But it remains to be seen whether the students need to learn to be accountable, or whether the system could be more accountable to student needs.
On September 25 and 26 between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. McMaster’s Student Centre will be center stage for a plethora of organizations from across Hamilton. Nearly 75 vendors will take over the Student Centre atrium in hopes of exposing students to the need for volunteers in the Hamilton community.
This year marks the 8th annual Community Engagement and Volunteer Fair with a record-breaking number of young activists expected to turn out. Spread out over two days, the Volunteer Fair will expose students to a multitude of local agencies, from small grassroots to globally recognized organizations all hoping to team up with students to make a difference in the greater community.
The fair promises to be even larger this year, as the Student Success Centre has recently announced its collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Experiential Education.
This new partnership will give students access to a wider variety and higher volume of agencies across Hamilton. “The [Student Success Centre] has more relationships and partners in the community,” said Angela Fortino, Employer Relations Officer at the Student Success Centre. “This year the fair is full, plus we have organizations on the waiting list.”
More relationships within the community mean more opportunities for students to find the right volunteer position for them.
Students will not only have the opportunity to interact with big brand organizations such as United Way and Red Cross, but also a more diverse set of niche organizations this year.
“We get agencies that meet a particular need in the community that is pretty unique… You’re able to tap into different aspects of the community,” said Adam Kuhn, Student Success Centre Manager.
And with the Student Success Centre on board, a higher volume of students are expected to take notice and be aware of the event.
“The Student Success Centre has more retail access across campus to reach a higher volume of students,” explained Kuhn.
The Volunteer Fair is essentially a mass-networking project with a dual focus. It gives students a means of networking with volunteer organizations, and it allows local agencies a means of recruiting essential volunteers through a single, two-day event.
Volunteering is one means of expanding your professional Rolodex as a student, simply by means of networking. It’s is also a good way of establishing credibility and rapport, which can potentially act as leverage into a full time position. Students can use volunteer positions to build their resumes, linking their volunteer work to their field of academic study, and potential future occupation.
“[Volunteering] can affirm your career goals and passions or it can challenge your assumptions,” noted Kuhn on the benefits of volunteering.
The Volunteer Fair presents an opportunity for students to connect with a diverse range of local agencies in hopes of finding the right niche regardless of passion, career goal, or area of interest.
