Gateway Program Helps Students Define Career Paths

Even for students who are sure of what they want to do after Lafayette, Career Services’ Gateway program can be a helpful tool in preparing for life after graduation.

With no better time to start than the first year, Gateway outlines four steps for students at all stages of the career search. Each is designed to help students explore options, gain experience, and plan for the future.

Career Services advises first-year students to evaluate how their interests, skills, and talents connect to specific career fields and opportunities for graduate studies. At a group Gateway orientation session, students learn how their whole Lafayette experience can benefit their long term goals.

Christopher Shumeyko ’10 (Vestal, N.Y.) came to Lafayette with very specific ideas about his future career. He wants to work as a mechanical ride systems engineer for Walt Disney Imagineering. He met with Alana Gallo, assistant director of Career Services, and is excited about the guidance he has already received.

“Alana Gallo has been extremely helpful to me ever since I first joined the Gateway program,” he says. “She’s helped me gain valuable contact information of several alumni as well as contact information for several companies. She helped me form my first resume and made sure it was perfect. I was so shocked when she knew about Walt Disney Imagineering and being an ‘imagineer;’ it was a huge plus to helping me with my career goals.”

Thinking about a future career in law, Michaela St. Onge ’10 (Bedford, Mass.) met with Maureen Walz Boehmer, assistant director for special events at Career Services, to start looking for a summer internship. Together, they have been preparing her resume and writing cover letters.

“I would definitely recommend Gateway to other students,” says St. Onge. “The opportunity for guidance, exploration, and success is right there ahead of us, so it does not make sense to let the chance go by. The program is well-structured and the staff is very helpful in exposing students to new experiences and opportunities for success.”

Sophomores receive help developing a network of contacts and securing their first major career experiences. Career Services strongly encourages alumni externships, which allow students to make valuable connections and observe what a day in the life of someone with their desired career actually entails.

English major Carolyn Paul ’09 (Hawthorne, N.J.) is working on securing an internship or summer job with a New York City public relations firm. Paul has been so impressed with the program that she serves as a Gateway ambassador, introducing the program’s benefits to first-year students and new participants.

“[The program] has been really helpful and comforting in the sense that you know there is someone to help you with such a stressful thing as planning your future,” she says.

Also serving as a Gateway ambassador is mechanical engineering major Christian Bacon ’09 (Jacksonville, Fla.), who has been working with Gallo since last year. She assisted him with his resume which helped him land an internship last summer with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. For Bacon, a linebacker on the football team, the experience was right up his alley.

“Gateway helps you find jobs that interest you and it gives you experience in those jobs,” he says. “Being prepared before your senior year takes a lot of stress off a student.”

For juniors, the program helps build their network of contacts, expand career-related skills, and focus on specific employers or graduate and professional schools. Juniors concentrate on serving internships, conducting informational interviews, and investigating graduate or professional schools.

His two-day externship at TESSCO Technologies in Hunt Valley, Md., under the guidance of Robert Mahr ’83, market development manager at the company, convinced Adrian Lawson ’08 (Laurel, Md.) that A.B. engineering was the right major for him. Lawson also served an internship last summer at Easton City Hall. He plans to pursue his M.B.A. and work as an architect or engineer in the construction industry.

“My experience with Mr. Mahr opened my eyes to different opportunities offered to individuals with an engineering degree,” says Lawson. “I was appreciative to work with an alumnus who was willing to show me what goes on in the work field. After my experience, I came to the conclusion that my interest was in engineering.

“Career Services has provided various opportunities for me to better myself and the skills I need to be successful after graduation. The counselors are willing to work with you to reach your career goals.”

As seniors, students begin to see how the preparation through Gateway pays off. They receive valuable help practicing for interviews and landing desired jobs. Career Services encourages students to take advantage of on-campus interviews. Students headed to graduate and professional schools also put the finishing touches on their applications.

Ben Kaplan ’07, who graduated May 19 with an A.B. in biology, participated in the Gateway program since his first year, and has landed a consulting job with IBM. He will help IBM clients increase their computer database and software efficiency.

Kaplan began working with Linda Arra, director of Career Services, when he entered the Gateway program, and he hopes their friendship continues after graduation. During his undergraduate years, Arra helped him refine his networking and communication skills. She also helped him secure three alumni externships, one at Harvard School of Public Health, hosted by Carmen Marsit ’00; another at Pfizer, hosted by Timothy Hylan ’88; and the last one at Siemens Diagnostic division, hosted by Joe Bernardo ’90.

“These experiences helped me create a path to reach my long term goals,” says Kaplan, who also conducted cancer research with a team of four other students under the direction of Shyamal Majumdar, Kreider Professor of Biology. “I want to end up in marketing for a biotech company, and after talking to many graduates, I realize there is no direct path. The key is to succeed wherever I go and learn important traits and skills along the way.”

For more information on the Gateway program, visit Career Services at 201 Hogg Hall, call x5115, or visit the website.