The Career Center’s Connect Team hosted a day-long trip to New York City over winter break. A group of 18 first-year students, sophomores and juniors had the opportunity to explore potential career interests through site visits, panel discussions and networking.
The trip featured three different industry tracks for students to choose from: business/marketing, fashion/the arts, and nonprofit.
Students from each track observed different professional environments through site visits with alumni at Facebook, Sprinklr, Tommy Hilfiger, Bloomingdale’s, New York City Economic Development Corporation, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
The Hamilton alumni network provides guidance and helps students find internships that lead to successful careers.
The visits included a tour of the company, an introduction to the alumnus’ role and career path, and a Q&A session at the end. Each track also featured a lunch with young alumni in those respective career fields. During informal conversations, alumni spoke about topics such as navigating post-Hamilton life in New York City.
At the end of the trip, all three tracks reconvened at Tory Burch for a panel discussion that included several Hamilton alumni.
Throughout the trip, students were delighted at how eager alumni were to engage with them. On the fashion/ arts track, Shelby Castillo ’19 especially enjoyed the unique opportunity to hear from the vice president of design at Tommy Hilfiger, Sarah Hand ’91, and get exclusive access to the creative process.
For students like Eddie Brennan ’19, a major takeaway was hearing descriptions of the positions to which they aspire, and learning the “lingo” of the business.
On the other tracks, students were equally impressed by the strength of the Hamilton alumni network and by their willingness to help current students. Lona Sniderman ’19 said she “left the trip with a few great contacts and also a feeling of assuredness about next steps toward securing a great internship.”
Meanwhile, Amelia Mitchell ’18 “learned a lot about what it takes to succeed in the nonprofit world, and I’m anxious to put what I’ve learned into use.”
Over the course of the day, students collectively met with 20 Hamilton alumni and each had encouraging advice to share.
Andy Berman ’06 from Facebook said, “I wanted everyone to leave knowing that it doesn't matter what you major in, where you’re from, or what you think you want to do. Opportunity will present itself at unexpected times and in unexpected ways,” he advised. “Keeping your eyes open, and knowing when to take a risk is key to success.”
