Graduating seniors visit booths during Grad Fair on March 14 and 15 such as the Auxiliary Services section. Jennifer Dettwiller/The Lion's Roar
Graduating seniors welcomed their future with the help of Grad Fair through its many opportunities.
Grad Fair was held in the Student Union Ballroom on March 14 and 15, to inform seniors on different paths they can take after graduating.
Senior criminal justice major Elizabeth Kreutzer was happy with how everything was set up and to see what the university has to offer graduates.
“It was a very simple process,” said Kreutzer. “Everything’s well organized, laid out nicely, the signs directing you on where to go were very helpful.”
Senior health education and promotion major Tamara Will discussed the importance of the event.
“It’s very good for information because before coming here honestly I didn’t know about a lot of this stuff,” said Will. “I even found out about graduate programs and everything I didn’t know about. It’s a good place to get information.”
She also explained that she was glad to find out more about invitations, cap and gowns and that yearbooks were free.
Working the Lion Hire table at Grad Fair, sophomore kinesiology major Margaret Romano explained why she thought Lion Hire is helpful for students.
“I think the importance of Lion Hire is that it offers so many different things for students,” said Romano. “Not only can students go and look at jobs postings that we have, they can explore different opportunities. We do have different things like where they can make a profile, where other employers can see them, they can upload their resumes, we can help them with their resumes.”
Romano also discussed that Lion Hire can also give students mock interviews and has many key aspects for students to implement for their futures.
Graduate assistant for the Alumni Association Allie Dyer explained what it means to be a ‘Lion 4 Life’ and how students and alumni can be a part of the Alumni Association.
“The first thing we have for graduating seniors is the ‘Lion 4 Life Launch’”, said Dyer. “It’s going to be Thursday, May 10, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.”
The launch will have many opportunities for students to relax and have a good time.
The Alumni Association has also developed a university social network that will be similar to a social media outlet with a few alterations.
“It’s called Southeastern Connect,” said Dyer. “You can login with your LinkedIn or your Facebook. It’s going to pre-populate everything that you already have. There are two amazing selling points for this website. The first one is that you have access to all of the alumni and their connections. You can ask them for help with resumes, maybe mentorship opportunities and internships. You can post your pictures. You can make updates. The second part is that as the Alumni Association, we really like to keep up with y’all. The most important part is to just get the information out there.”
The Alumni Association hopes to better feature young alumni in the “alumni spotlight” section of the association’s magazine by using Southeastern Connect.
Another aspect that is implemented for recent alumni provided by the Alumni Association is the chance to be a member of the Gold Council.
“The Gold Council is for those alumni who really bleed green and gold, you know like a super lion,” said Dyer. “Those super lions are going to be able to come together in a council where they’re gonna be able to direct the young alumni relations from here on.”
The Gold Council will consist of 10 to 20 alumni to make decisions on topics from what kind of get-together people would enjoy most and what type of network would be better for reaching other alumni.
Senior general studies major Robyn Barrios explained that she was not expecting a Grad Fair because she was just coming for her portraits, but was happy because everything she wanted to know was in one place.
“It’s letting me know everything I need to know for graduation day,” said Barrios. “It’s preparing me for the day and after, especially since the graduate programs are here.”
