Following in the steps of a successful Career Panel held last year, Hispanic Studies majors and students welcomed our successful alums back on campus for a conversation. On March 24, Ben Boone (HISP ’07; Ph.D. Candidate, Dean of Students Office at W&M), Maybelline Mendoza (HISP ’07; MBA Candidate), and Sarah Parks (HISP ’03; Master in Social Work) shared their experiences in the Hispanic Studies program (such as Sarah’s trip with Prof. Silvia Tandeciarz to La Plata that eventually led to the creation of our W&M study abroad program), their post-graduation trajectories, and their professional paths with some twenty Hispanic Studies students. This brown bag event, “Putting Together Your Career Tool Kit: Hispanic Studies and Intercultural Competence,” highlighted the training our alums received in cultural competence and intercultural bridging, and the role that these skills play in their trajectories in higher education administration and non-profits in Nicaragua, the world of business and the beauty industry, and public service scenarios from community health clinics and low-income housing community center to welfare of immigrant children.
Our alums, students, from freshmen to seniors, and faculty engaged in a lively dialogue that underscored how our program contributes to creating global citizens.
The event was kindly co-sponsored by the Cohen Career Center, and the Charles Center.