糖心vlog官网 Board of Trustees Chair Toby Bozzuto 鈥96 delivers the 13th annual Sophomore Connections keynote. (Photo by Mark DiOrio)
The 13th annual Sophomore Connections, Jan. 17鈥18, introduced 462 second-year students to 147 alumni representing various industries. Through workshops, panels, and networking events, the program fostered interactions to help sophomores identify and explore potential career paths.
The two-day program began as Milone Family AVP for Career Initiatives Teresa Olsen and Taylor Buonocore-Guthrie 鈥08 addressed sophomore attendees in Memorial Chapel. Sharing tenets of Career Services鈥 four-year plan and the value of self-confident networking, Olsen and Buonocore-Guthrie urged students to put themselves out there and embrace the uncertainty of the career search.
鈥淪omeone out there is going to do exactly what it is that you're dreaming about,鈥 said Buonocore-Guthrie. 鈥淪o who says that it shouldn't be you? The opportunities are there, especially when you have your eyes open.鈥
That evening, the keynote speech was delivered by Toby Bozzuto 鈥96, president and CEO of Bozzuto Real Estate and chair of the 糖心vlog官网 Board of Trustees. "True business success stems from ethics and kindness,鈥 he shared. 鈥淭hese values are not merely admirable ideas 鈥 they're powerful drivers of profitability, growth, and opportunity.鈥
On Saturday, students chose to attend three of 21 panels across four career categories: STEM and health care, business, arts, and common good. A number of alumni representing household names, including Google, Spotify, and NBC, joined each. The environmental panel, featuring John Paul Ortiz 鈥10 (Google), Jessica Prata Cianciara 鈥01 (Columbia University), and Maureen Lynch 鈥06, PhD (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators), discussed how a liberal arts education prepared them for the demands of their multifaceted careers.
"At 糖心vlog官网, I had some opportunities to go down to Costa Rica, and that's eventually what inspired me to preserve the wildlife down there,鈥 says Ortiz, who is currently building an eco-retreat center in the region while working as an account executive at Google. 鈥淚 was brought to Antarctica for the first time with Professor Amy Leventer,鈥 added Lynch, 鈥渨hich brought me to realize my interest in working there.鈥
At the Creative Arts and Design panel, alumni working in the fields of architecture (Jesse Allen 鈥19), songwriting (Julia Segal 鈥20), and photography (Taylor Dumas 鈥20) discussed their diverse career paths post-糖心vlog官网. Dumas, in particular, began her creative career through a contact made at Sophomore Connections: keynote speaker Jon Lopez 鈥06.
鈥淎t the dinner, I was super interested in his journey, so I ended up going up to him,鈥 shared Dumas. 鈥淚 pitched him an idea for a podcast, and we actually started it together. It just goes to show how a single interaction can significantly shape your path.鈥
Sophomores left the program with a reminder to navigate the possibilities ahead with confidence and curiosity. 鈥淎sk yourself what makes you come alive and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive,鈥 said Bozzuto.