Emma Reiner
Senior Features Writer
This upcoming weekend, April 9th-11th, the College will be hosting three different events with alumni for students. These events will include a STEM panel, a CreateHER Day and a panel for finding housing after college. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of these events will be held in a virtual format.
The first event of the weekend will be a panel called “Disabled in STEM: Career Panel” on Friday, Apr. 9th at 7 p.m. EST. The panel will have two speakers, Dr. Shelley Judge from the Earth Sciences department, and alumna Yukie Sato from the class of ’07. This panel is a continuation of an event held in February, which consisted of a panel of students discussing disabilities in STEM. Kara Melrose, the STEM Zone coordinator, along with STEM Zone Interns, decided to put together this event as a response to the good turnout at the student-led panel. Melrose said the goal of this career panel was “having the same discussions [as the student-led panel], but hearing from people who have been out in the career field and how their disability has or has not affected their path.” Even though this panel will be virtual, Melrose noted that it is exciting that these virtual events make it possible “to have alumni from across the globe participate.”
The next event happening this weekend is the third annual createHER day. This will be on Sunday, Apr. 11th from 11a.m.- 3 p.m. EST. Marina Pannell, the Assistant Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, along with CreateHER Ambassadors Zoe Carter ’22 and Mady Rice ’22, planned this event to happen virtually on Zoom. They were unable to put the event together last year due to the rapid switch to virtual learning last spring, so they wanted to make sure the event happened this year, even if it had to be virtual. Past createHER days included breakout sessions occurring at the same time, which meant attendees were unable to attend all of them. This year, due to the event going virtual, Pannell and the ambassadors planned the event so that the breakout sessions occurred at different times, making it possible for attendees to attend all sessions. Additionally, the event this year will include both alumnae and a current student who is a createHER advocate.
The last alum event of the weekend will be hosted by the Future Alumni Network, called “#Adulting: Tips and Advice for Finding Housing,” and it will be on Apr. 11th at 7 p.m. EST. Four alumni will be on the panel, and will give tips on finding housing for soon-to-be graduates. Paul Seling, the Assistant Director of Volunteer Engagement in the Alumni office gave more details about this event, saying that “the panelists will give tips for where to look for housing options in a new city, what to consider when budgeting living expenses and what you should consider before signing a lease.” Students involved with the Future Alumni Network came up with this idea, leading to Seling contacting different alumni and putting it together. Compared to past events, the speakers will be more varied because Seling is not limited to alumni who live close to the College. Seling argues that events going virtual will allow the Alumni office to “connect students with alumni all over the world so that they can share their expertise.”
Planning for virtual learning and events has been difficult. Seling commented on this, saying that one of the challenges has been that “many people are feeling very fatigued with participating in things virtually.” However, the people planning these upcoming events noted the benefits in going virtual, including flexibility in timing and speakers. Going virtual has its advantages and drawbacks, and that can be seen in planning these kinds of events. These events can engage students in different topics, from meeting alum in their field, to career planning and it is exciting that they can still happen in a pandemic world.
