Grinnellians Take Manhattan
Twenty Grinnell students will navigate Manhattan during the second week of spring break, March 23-28, in search of career potential in the fields of international relations and human rights, with a little help from their friends in the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations and Human Rights, and from alumni who have volunteered to share their work experience and career insights.
The New York City break tour is the third industry tour organized by the Center for Careers, Life, and Service (CLS) and the Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR). In 2012, a dozen Grinnellians learned the wonders of startups in Silicon Valley; in 2013, 12 students blew into the Windy City to observe careers in nonprofits with social impact.
“The idea of industry tours came out of the college’s strategic planning process that identified post-graduate success and alumni engagement as key initiatives,” says Mark Peltz, Daniel and Patricia Jipp Finkelman Dean, CLS. “What students walk away with from these tours is compelling — career advice, internship leads, enriching experiences, and networking opportunities.”
The tour topics are also informed by student interests, and “cut across where alumni are working, varying geographic locations and the diverse pathways of our graduates.”
Student interest is growing — this year, there were 59 applications for only 18 seats, plus two student leaders. It’s also a diverse group of participants — from Serbia to Rio; from first-year undecideds to senior international development majors.
When Sophia Neems ’16, an anthropology and Spanish double major from Iowa City, Iowa, attended the Chicago tour, she said she “gained a better understanding of the diversity of jobs that have to do with social justice.
“The CLS tour exposed me to many different areas of social justice work in a myriad of fields that I had never considered before,” Neems says. “It was a great opportunity to meet other like-minded Grinnellians that I would not have otherwise met. I learned a lot regarding the diversity of successful career paths that different Grinnellians have embarked upon.”
For Andrew Lange ’13, the Silicon Valley trip reinforced the value of a Grinnell degree. “The Silicon Valley industry tour got me excited about entrepreneurship and business. Meeting a French major with a business career and a biology major working in advertising showed the diverse opportunities that a Grinnell liberal arts education allows.
“The CLS tour was a bridge between the Grinnell academic experience and the business world. It was an opportunity to see the ways that alumni have used their liberal arts education to develop various successful careers. Lange, a studio art graduate, is a marketing agent in Carroll, Iowa
“The biggest impact for students is the opportunity to connect with alumni in their place of work, in areas students are interested in; for alumni, it’s a reason to reconnect with the college, share their knowledge and influence future leaders,” says Nate Dobbels, assistant director of alumni relations for career programs.
Dobbels coordinates the industry tour, along with Ed Cohn, interim director of the Rosenfield Program, and two student leaders who promote the tours to the campus, participate in the selection process, research trip sites, and help to navigate on site. Because the tour is funded in part this year by the Rosenfield Program, the student leaders are also Rosenfield Committee members: Roni Finkelstein ’15, a history major from New Jersey, and Anesu Gamanya ’17, an undeclared major from Zimbabwe.
Students will meet alumni in their workplaces – The New York Times and the United Nations, for example – and at evening networking events at the Center for Constitutional Rights and Neo Futurists Theater.
Industry tour funding is provided by the Rosenfield Program, CLS, and DAR.