Student participants in the inaugural Endeavor program, launched in January 2016. (Gary Wayne Gilbert)
The launch earlier this year of the Boston College Career Center's Endeavor program—career exploration tailored to sophomores pursuing degrees in the liberal arts—was such a success that it has been expanded for its second run, in terms of both enrollment and content.
(Endeavor will take place January 11-13, 2017, and is free to student participants. To register, visit the Endeavor website and click the sign up link. Registration deadline is December 1.)
Endeavor enables students to engage in networking, skill-building activities, and career treks into Boston, with alumni and prominent employers. Participating students explore, reflect, and consider how best to advance their interests and goals, while learning to connect the value of their liberal arts education to their career.
“We think it is very important for students to understand that they can study what they love and have a competitive edge in the workplace once they graduate,” said Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Joseph Du Pont, who oversees BC's career services effort.
“[Through Endeavor] students can explore their academic, co-curricular, and career interests and understand how to build a college experience that will allow them to lead self-directed, meaningful professional lives,” said Du Pont.
Based on extensive feedback from its inaugural launch, the Career Center team has increased the limit of students who can apply to 250. The program has also been extended from two to three days, which will allow students to more flexibility in choosing sessions to suit their interests.
Over the course of the program, students will hear from BC alumni on their career paths, learn how to craft their own unique story, and discuss topics like diversity in the workplace, building skills on campus, and networking for introverts.
Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Joy Haywood Moore '81 says the BC Alumni Association is "thrilled" to partner with the Career Center for the second iteration of Endeavor.
“Alumni consistently rank serving as mentors to current students as the way in which they are most passionate about giving back to Boston College,” said Moore.
With the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Student Affairs, Residential Life, and the Alumni Association, the Career Center is also introducing a peer mentoring component where 16 Endeavor fellows—juniors who participated last year—will help guide students through the program.
“We recognized that students who attended Endeavor can relate to this year's participants in a powerful way and, as such, they are in a great position to help students process their Endeavor experience and build community among participants,” said Career Center Associate Director Rachel Greenberg.
“We are so excited about and grateful to these 16 Endeavor Fellows for their energy, enthusiasm, and genuine desire to help their peers, and we are confident that this new role will further enrich the Endeavor experience,” she said.
Faculty will play a greater role as well, acting as coaches and facilitators throughout each day.
The event will include a keynote address by Arivee Vargas Rozier-Byrd, Esq. MCAS ’05, J.D. ’08, who is entering her second year as a member of the AHANA Alumni Advisory Council, serving on the professional advancement and mentoring subcommittee. Arivee, who received the Goodwin Procter Diversity Fellowship in 2007, is a former associate in business and tort litigation at law firm Jones Day. She is now an associate director at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
“I am incredibly honored to serve as the keynote speaker at Endeavor,” said Arivee. “The skills, values, and principles that form the bedrock of the liberal arts education Boston College provided me have continuously served as guideposts for [me] and have significantly influenced my professional and personal development.
“I am humbled to have the privilege of sharing part of my journey with students at such a critical point in their college education.”
Endeavor's lineup of speakers and career coaches includes individuals from the Boston Public Health Commission, Bloomberg News, Mass General Hospital, Education First, the Danforth Art Museum, Shire and Houghton Mifflin, State Street Corporation, and WHDH, among other major organizations.
(Find student testimonials, stats, and more information about the first Endeavor program in January 2016 here.)
-Siobhan Sullivan | University Communications