Caption: Alumni (from left to right) Alex Orel, Lauren Limon, John Monroe, Kevin Amthor participated in a young alumni panel with Student Alumni Board member Eric Miller moderating.
Upwards of eighty students and twenty alumni were in attendance for The Career Summit with many alumni traveling from different parts of Kansas.
Megan Dougherty, Director of Career Services at Benedictine College, stated that the purpose of the event was to bring the RavenWalk to life with the hopes that students would feel more comfortable meeting alumni in person before connecting to them online.
The day began with the chance to meet the alumni before transferring to the opening address. A young alumni panel, networking presentation, and break out panels followed. After lunch, the chances to do further networking, have headshots taken and resumes reviewed were provided.
The alumni greatly encouraged the idea of networking, the building of connections with people from different fields in the hope of sharing advice, experience, and job opportunities.
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“At the end of the day networking is truly just building relationships,” Dougherty said.
The exchange of experience and advice from those who’ve graduated brought the reality of not getting dream job immediately out of college.
Cameron Diachun, junior, agreed.
“It was kind of interesting because there’s a lot of dreaming in college and it was kind of a low hit to the belt though to realize that’s true,” Diachun said.
Diachun thought the networking was a good idea, however, he wished there were more alumni from his major, but agreed that his major doesn’t define what career he may go to.
While walking up to strangers was daunting, his first networking experience taught him a lot.
“Just go to it prepared to talk to people. Don’t expect to be catered into it. It’s a time for adulting. It is a time to step out of your comfort zone and say ‘here I am.’ Go in expecting to be challenged and be ready to face that challenge,” Diachun said.
Michael Saneyfelt, sophomore, agreed that talking to several of the alumni and attending the panels were some of the best parts.
“It reinsured my trust in God as will knowing things are going to be okay so long as I stay hungry humble and smart,” Shaneyfelt said.
