Career services very own Brandi Ferrara returned once again for her regularly scheduled “Acing Your Zoom Interview” series wherein student have the opportunity to learnt eh ins and outs of being a spectacular candidate, both on line and offline!
This week Mitchell Spring ’24 & Ashley Aronson ’24 got the opportunity to work intimately with Mrs. Ferrara to practice the process of post-pandemic interviews, being that the chat was set up as a Zoom interview!
During this semester’s Fireside Chat program, Professor Ricky Price, whose research focuses on the history of HIV and AIDS policy and activism, ‘virtually’ discussed the relationship between race and COVID-19, and shed a critical light on a health system whose racial disparities have exacerbated the harm that social structures and policies cause to the health of Black communities.
Visiting Professor Ricky Price has been an honor and delight on campus, along with his academic work he is liaison to HWS Votes as well as being an active and participating member of Community Education for Transformation, a local collective of community members and academics who work to develop healthy and progressive discourse between the colleges and the community.
For a third year, Intercultural Affairs participated in the Office of Student Activities’ Fun Friday program. Students were challenged (in a fun way) to learn about key events and contributions connected to the history of African Americans in our country. The program was facilitated by Associate Director Renee Grant and, as Sheila Uria ’21 shared with us: “Fun Friday wasn’t just a great opportunity for students to connect with the IC, but it also fostered a space in which students learned about African-American history through fun trivia games. Those who came to the table learned something new that day!”
On Friday, October 16, Posse 7 students stopped by IC to find ‘clues’ as part of their fun campus scavenger hunt. We are wondering if they were able to find messages such us “Molina and Rene Grant challenge YOU to a game of pool”? Or perhaps “you will be invited to a virtual cup of coffee?” Students paid a visit to Elizabeth Blackwell and gathered at the Blackwell library. We like to think that the clue they followed after IC was: “Go find the famous doctor who startled her male peers when she showed up to start her academic work at HWS? –she will show you the path to success (and a quiet study space on campus).
Thank you Posse 7 and Thank you Intercultural Affairs!
Shanelle France ’11, Peace Corps volunteer and current Geneva Middle Educator joined students in a virtual conversation to talk about her time here at the colleges, adventures and lessons abroad, and her experiences working all along the East Coast as an educator and school administrator!
Students were eager to hear about Shanelle’s decisions to become an educator and what she learned from all of her experiences both as a William Smith Heron and onward!
Thank you so much for joining us Ms. France and for future programming, stay tuned for more Alum Connections!
To learn more about Shanelle, check out these HWS News articles!
IC was honored to “virtually” host Brandi Ferrara, director of the Salisbury Center for Career Services, for our first monthly career chat during which guidelines and advice were provided for creating (and updating) resumes and cover letters. Director Ferrara also shared information on internship & job opportunities on campus and in the community.
We were joined by first-year students Alexis McNair and Olivia Mikesell and Alexis McNair who, at the end of the chat, commented “I felt the points that were covered were very relevant … I have a better understanding of the resources and options that are available as I continue my career plans at HWS.”
Keep an eye out for more events with our amazing special guest Brandi Ferrara!
Associate Director Renee Grant has continued the Student Caucus meetings as part of IC’s efforts to provide a (now virtual) venue for conversation and collaboration. It is our hope that due to the negative impact that COVID19 has had on ‘live’ programs and initiatives, student leaders connected to our Center are able to join these conversations (1st and 3rd Sunday of the Month @ 5:30 pm) that we hope will help students address a sense of isolation that living on a pandemic campus may promote.
Director Molina and Associate Director Grant are part of the team conducting Geneva 2030’s assessment for racial equity.
Geneva 2030 is a collective impact initiative, has worked to harness the resources of the entire Geneva community—nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals—to support the education of Geneva’s children from the “cradle to career.” We have worked with community members and the Geneva City School District to identify these key areas to support our children
The IC was glad to help in ensuring that the policies and procedures of the organization reflected the best sense of inclusion and community!
We were thrilled to welcome Aicha Bah, Brisamar Hernandez, Diego Medina, Jason Ramos, Jonathan Garcia, Khari Mosley, Litzy Bautista, Roxana Pena, Zyanya Rizzo and their mentor Ingrid Keenan, who oversees the Writing Fellow and Study Mentor programs, provides writing support to students. We were able to talk about who we are, the work we do, the programs we implement and the internships and job opportunities our center offers students.
The Colleges have partnered with The Posse Foundation, one of the most successful college access and youth leadership development programs in the country: high school students who show academic and leadership potential are supported throughout their college years. We wish these amazing students great success at HWS – and we are here to support them and provide resources they may need.
“Posse 7 had a great visit to the IC house on a chilly September day. Alejandra and Renee gave us an orientation to the amazing programs and services available at the IC, and took us on a tour of the house: highlights were the “wall of fame” in the kitchen and the pool table.
As Sophomores, some of the Posse 7 scholars already consider the IC house home away from home, but everyone plans to spend more time there this year.” – Ingrid Keenan
Director of Alumni/ae Relations Chevanne DeVaney ’95, P’21. P’23 facilitated a conversation with Katie Taylor ’09 on the importance of giving back to the Colleges.
Most recently, Katie served as the co-chair for the new and improved “Days of Service” through the Center for Student Engagement and Service Learning. Through this new effort to expand to three days during the fall we enable even more people to serve in the Geneva community.
Katie personifies the best qualities of student leaders at Hobart and William Smith. She has been an integral member of a variety of organizations on and off campus. She serves as the secretary for Hip NotiQs and co-chair of First Book Geneva which fundraises and allocates books to low- income children in our area. Katie is a member of Hai Timiai and is involved in Learn to Lead (L2L), and is a teaching fellow for Spanish and Hispanic Studies.
Over the summer, Katie worked as a program associate for Mobilize.org<http://mobilize.org/>, a non-profit all-partisan organization, that works to connect youth to public policy and political/community involvement through public policy and activism. Not surprisingly, due to her good work, she was offered a job to work for them full time after graduation this May.
Overall, Katie Taylor has shown extraordinary leadership on campus. She deserves to be recognized for her dedication to the HWS community and to the Geneva community. She is a leader in every sense of the word. Our campus would not be the same without her!
