Estefania Perez 鈥21 is all abuzz as she enters the Arts & 麻豆视频 Career Development offices in early March. She鈥檚 just heard back from a staffer in the office of a U.S. senator whom she鈥檇 really love to work for this summer. And her interview is in two days. She鈥檚 in desperate need of some wisdom from Ana Adinolfi, senior career associate in the office.
The scene is a common one for Adinolfi this semester, as she鈥檚 the advisor for the eight students who have been accepted into the college鈥檚 new Pathways Internship Program. Through the program, first-generation students receive funding to pursue a career-related experience of their choice during the summer after their sophomore year, along with monthly one-on-one meetings with Adinolfi, guidance on researching companies and creating resumes and cover letters and access to various career development resources, including practice interviews.
鈥淲ithout the funding, my whole idea to be in D.C. for the summer would not be possible,鈥 said Perez. 鈥淎nd this is really nice because I have someone to hold me accountable to make sure I鈥檓 doing everything I need to be doing. You get one-on-one focus for your field.鈥
Perez is hoping to work in Washington, D.C. for a research organization, a think-tank or to gain a position on Capitol Hill with a senate or congressional office or another political organization.
鈥淢y long term goal is to run for public office one day, so any kind of exposure in this field would be beneficial,鈥 said Perez, a government and history major who did an eight-week program in the capitol last summer as part of Cornell in Washington.
Kamla Arshad 鈥21 said the program helped her to stay on top of applying for opportunities, including some with deadlines back in the fall semester. 鈥淚f Ana hadn鈥檛 told me to start researching, I would have missed those deadlines easily,鈥 she said.
Arshad also switched her focus this year, so the program was helpful in refining her materials. 鈥淢y resume was very much premed focused and I wasn鈥檛 sure how to get out of that when I dropped premed,鈥 said Arshad, a psychology major. 鈥淚n premed, you don鈥檛 really have to do cover letters, so I also needed to learn how to write a cover letter.鈥
Arshad is spending part of her summer in Ecuador working for We Movement, an organization focused on community development efforts, and then spending the rest of her summer in some sort of clinical research experience related to psychology.
A goal of the program is to leave these students with a toolkit of resources they can use next year 鈥 and in years to come 鈥 when they are searching for internships or permanent positions, Adinolfi said,
鈥淓verything they do this year, they can apply next year and they鈥檒l also know what resources are out there,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 also hope they will be mentors to next year鈥檚 class.鈥
鈥淚 feel more comfortable and well-versed in networking skills, in email etiquette, just in everything,鈥 Perez said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e given us everything that they鈥檝e been able to. Now, it鈥檚 up to us.鈥
Students who want to be considered for the program next year should submit their applications by March 29. The office hopes to work with 15-20 students next year. More information is available here.
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