Founders College students network with alumni at Meet Your Major event

Alumni: (L-R) Elizabeth Hanna, Melanie Taddeo, Robert Cerjanec, Alexander Lovell, Nivedita Lane, Natasha Prashad, Joanne Huy, Mark Stehlin, Lisa Brown

Founders College hosted its Meet Your Major event for the second year on Oct. 29, offering current students an opportunity to meet and converse with Founders College alumni.

This year’s alumni consisted of nine individuals, a mix of recent and older graduates, working in fields including: government, education, non-profit, environment and more, and were graduates of York majoring in history, health sciences, fine arts, environmental studies, geography, and human rights and equity studies.

From left: Alumni Elizabeth Hanna, Melanie Taddeo, Robert Cerjanec, Alexander Lovell, Nivedita Lane, Natasha Prashad, Joanne Huy, Mark Stehlin and Lisa Brown

This event has more than 40 participants and took took a speed-friending approach, moving the alumni around every 10 to 15 minutes to engage with a new group of students. Students gained a wide range of insight on topics including the alumni’s university experience, their struggles, their tips on what employers look for, interview strategies, going back to school and career possibilities.

“(The event) was really refreshing and reminded me why it’s so important to share your experiences with others, who may find some insights and direction from it,” said Lisa Brown, kinesiology and health sciences alumna (’03).

Not only does the event aim to help current students, it gives alumni the opportunity to give back to their college community as well as mentor those students.

“It was an amazing opportunity to connect with former students who were once in the same position as the rest of us and learn from their success,” said Mark Tricarico, third year, geography.