Learning on Break

For some college students, the phrase “spring break” evokes beaches.

It does not often bring to mind phrases such as “career development.”

The Center for Careers, Life, and Service (CLS) is changing that.

The CLS offers primarily first- and second-year students the opportunity to experience different career paths through spring break externships.

Opportunities range from firsthand experience with Teach for America to policy work in Washington, D.C., to ecological work in Micronesia. The mix depends on which alumni volunteer to bring students into their workplaces and their homes. The externships last between three days and the full two weeks of spring break.

This year — the program’s third — the 50 alumni hosts ranged in graduation year from the 1970s to 2013. Potential alumni volunteers are sought in mid-fall semester via email, newsletter, social media, and word-of-mouth. When the list of alumni and their jobs is made available to students, each student ranks three top choices in their application. Then a selection committee matches each student with the opportunity that best matches their interests and goals. Students also participate in two workshops before and one after their externships, and write a blog while they’re on site.

The approach this program takes is uniquely holistic. At Grinnell, much is made of the fact that “you are not your major,” which can be extended to postgraduate life: you are not solely your career. Grinnell’s externships give students the whole picture of postgraduate life, not just the vocational aspects.

More than a Shadow

Although the externship program is billed as a job-shadowing experience, Grinnellians tend to expect far more, as do the alumni volunteers.

The students were required to conduct informational interviews during their externships. Suha Gillani ’16 spent several days in Washington, D.C. with Ed Senn ’79, vice-president of state government relations at Verizon and a member of the Alumni Council. She interviewed 10 people, including White House employees and the deputy chief of mission from Pakistan to the United States. Gillani met with Senn before the externship. He advised her to create a list of expectations, and he came with one of his own, so that she could get what she wanted out of the opportunity.

Paulina Campbell ’16, who shadowed Jacqui Vautin ’13, a teacher working through Teach for America (TFA) in Huntsville, Ala., pitched in both in preparation for lessons and in the classroom. Campbell’s situation is unusual, as she knew Vautin — and ran cross country with her — when both were students.

Toby Baratta ’17, a prospective computer science and mathematics double major, completed an externship with David Leppik ’94, vice-president of software development at Vocal Laboratories, Inc. in St. Louis Park, Minn. She was able to meet and interview both regular employees and consultants, getting a feel for how the atmosphere differed even though the work was similar. Baratta also used some of the programming skills she picked up from her coursework and her work at Grinnell’s Data Analysis and Social Inquiry Lab to write a JAVA program.

Work-Life Balance

One of the great benefits of the externship program is the practice of students living with their alumni hosts. In doing so, they are able to see what the rest of an alum’s life looks like. Although there was great variation in the work-life balance or work-life blend each alum was able to achieve, all did strive for some kind of balance.

Suha Gillani’s first day with Ed Senn was a bit of a whirlwind. “His day is nonstop. We would leave his house at 7:30 a.m. and work straight through until 5:30 p.m. Mr. Senn usually lobbied over lunch, and he rarely went directly home after work,” she says. There was always a reception or a fundraiser that he would attend. By the time they got home, usually around 9:30 p.m. after a late dinner, Gillani would have the energy to do little other than sleep. To avoid taking his work home after such full days, Senn maintained an internet-free home, which Gillani came to appreciate.

Both Jacqui Vautin and Jessica Bralley ’10, with whom Sefonobong Obot ’17 conducted an externship in Washington, D.C., are junior in their fields. Bralley is a senior management analyst with Cooper Thomas, LLC working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She acts as a conduit between her supervisors and the policy-makers, organizations, and individuals with which her firm works. Campbell said that Vautin struggled to achieve work-life balance in her first semester of teaching. She is doing better now — even fitting in time to run — but the workload is too large and the school’s need too great to carve out much personal time. Bralley doesn’t go anywhere without her government-issued Blackberry, which makes it difficult to unplug from work. That difficulty does not make setting limits purposeless. “You have to try to set guidelines to separate your work from your life, and if they’re broken, set others.” Obot also noted the importance of making one’s workplace more comfortable. “If you don’t set it up to be inviting, you’re not going to like going to work,” she says.

Michael Wilson ’88, a research physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. who hosted Androniki Mitrou ’17, and David Leppik have advanced far enough in their careers and set a high-enough priority of balancing work with life — especially since they have children — that they are able to assert considerable control over their schedules. Although their externs will likely not be able to exert that much control when entering the workforce, they were able to see firsthand the benefits of prioritizing family time.

Takeaway

The lessons learned during these externships will likely enhance studies, careers, and lives spent outside of work. Carlos Ortiz Campo ’17, for example, spent two weeks in Micronesia with Lisa Andon ’92, who works at the Micronesia Conservation Trust. In addition to having the chance to live briefly on the island of Pohnpei, Ortiz Campo was able to see the practical side of conservation. He learned that there is much more to job satisfaction than compensation. “Feeling appreciated, comfortable, and motivated in one’s job are essential things to ensure happiness and stability,” he says.

The pursuit of career goals other than a paycheck was a consistent theme among the externship participants. Gillani says, “If you don’t love what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be doing it,” and, “do what you love; money will follow.” In the event that she is handed a large sum of money, though, she knows what to do. One of Senn’s friends walked her through how she should professionally handle being given a million dollars. The highlights are carry it in a briefcase, go directly to a bank, and ask for the manager.

Mitrou got more directly applicable advice from her host. Wilson has been through Grinnell’s physics curriculum and even had some of the same professors as Mitrou, so he was able to offer constructive advice on classes Mitrou should consider taking.

Campbell decided to do an externship to see firsthand what Teach for America was really like. That did not dissuade her from pursuing the opportunity in the future, but having externed in an urban school, she thinks if she does TFA, she’d prefer a more rural setting.

Some of the second-year students who completed externships this year had already done one their first year. Those who repeated were able to use what they learned about themselves and potential future careers to narrow their interests for year two. Kelly Guilbeau, who runs the externship program, is excited at this opportunity for students and alumni to connect. Not only do students get the chance to see what life after Grinnell could look like for them, but also alumni get to rediscover their field through a student’s eyes and help shape the future of their profession.