Ten Hillsdale students took advantage of fall break to travel to Chicago for three days to network with alumni and explore the city.
Hillsdale College Career Services led the trip, which cost $350 dollars per student. Director of Career Services Joanna Wiseley said the trips are conducted to give students valuable opportunities in a condensed time.
“It’s designed to create mentor links between alumni and students while familiarizing students with cities of interest and helping them explore employment and internship opportunities,” Wiseley said.
The trips are the result of coordination between Career Services and the Alumni Relations Board who helps contact alumni in the destination cities.The students met up with more than 50 alumni, some who graduated from the college more than 40 years ago. Others were more recent graduates. All, however, seemed excited to network with the students, according to senior Peter Kistler who was on the trip.
“It was terrific to get to learn about their different backgrounds and see what we have in common with them,” Kistler said.
Kistler, and fellow senior theater major Kyra Moss got a chance to meet with with a recent graduate who works in the theater industry in Chicago
“Shelby Kittelson `13 is now working at Second City, a bit improv company that has produced Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and a whole lot of cool talent,” Kistler said. “We got to talk with her about how to get jobs there, and that was really useful.”
All of the students on the trip got to job shadow an alum during their trip. In addition, they got a presentation from Interview Savvy, a consulting firm that helps prepare individuals to effectively network and interview for jobs.
This was the fifth time that Wiseley has taken a group of Hillsdale students to Chicago, and she said that they definitely plan to continue the tradition. In addition to trips to Chicago, Career Services also leads trips to Washington, D.C., and is planning on adding day trips to Lansing and Detroit in the near future, according to Wiseley.
One of the unique part of the trip that Wiseley enjoys is when students get taken on a tour of the various communities within the city in which young professionals often live.
“It isn’t a sightseeing trip,” Wiseley said. “It is about what it’s like to live in certain areas of the city: what is the average cost of a flat, do you need a car, where do you park, and so on.”
Freshman Graceanne Warburton was the only freshman on the trip, but said that she definitely feels that she benefited from the experience.
“I got to meet some awesome alumni, and I even got a lead on an internship back in Nevada where I’m from,” Warburton said. “It was also great to just get to explore the city a bit.”
