While many of their peers took road trips or hit the beach over spring break, 11 Pomona sophomores visited industry sites throughout Los Angeles County and networked with alumni and other professionals.
As part of the Smart Start Career Fellows Program, coordinated by Pomona’s Career Development Office (CDO), each of the first-generation and/or low-income students was committed to exploring diverse career pathways.
“A major goal of the program is for students to have an understanding of how their liberal arts education can apply in any industry,” says Denisse Jover, associate director of employer relations and experiential learning.
The fellows made their way to such varied organizations as the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, Accenture (a professional services company), City of Hope (a cancer research and treatment center) and Center Theatre Group.
“I loved it. I learned a lot,” says Alma Medina ’28, a public policy analysis major from Merced County, California. “I learned about myself and about the field that I want to be part of. It really helped me.”
The spring break career trek was the second of two components of the Smart Start program. The first was an intensive on-campus segment in January before the start of the spring semester.
“There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work before they even get to the trek,” says Wanda Gibson, assistant dean and deputy director of the CDO. She emphasizes that Smart Start is an “all-encompassing career program.”
In the January sessions, students grew in confidence through interviewing and networking trainings and in self-understanding through strengths and interest assessments. They also worked on resumes and cover letters and posed for professional headshots. Over the next two months, they met one-on-one with CDO staff for several personalized coaching sessions.
“It was very beneficial to me,” says Lee Mugweru ’28, an economics major from Nairobi, Kenya. He especially appreciated the networking training, which taught him about “elevator pitches, topics to talk about and questions to ask,” he says.
Mugweru and the other fellows put these skills to use over the course of two packed weekdays in mid-March.
Early on a Wednesday, the fellows loaded onto a bus and headed to the city of Diamond Bar to tour a highway project site. Following that, they visited a shared housing project in the city of Pomona. These on-site visits exposed the fellows to the myriad roles, such as project managers, social workers and outreach coordinators, that are needed for government projects. To cap off their time with the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, the fellows interacted with executive director Marisa Creter ’02 and a panel of executive staff over lunch.
They then traversed the Southland to Culver City, where they toured the office of Accenture, which Sophia Augustine ’23, a senior analyst, helped coordinate. Accenture staff gave a presentation on “What Is Consulting?” before a time of networking with the fellows.
The day ended with a mixer at a local Culver City eatery with Pomona alumni. Over a dozen alumni turned out to share their professional experiences with the students.
Wayne Goldstein ’96, chair of the Los Angeles alumni chapter, headed up the effort to gather alumni and organize the event.
“What you always find with Pomona events is people are eager to connect. It was nice to have a structured, formal networking opportunity with alumni from a variety of industries,” says Goldstein. “I could sense that energy in the room of the alumni really being open and wanting to share their experiences.”
The students participants appreciated the efforts made by alumni.
“Seeing how people utilized their different majors and how they all maneuvered their ways into different career paths was enlightening,” says Mugweru. “We met really great people. They were all open to talk to us, answering questions. You could actually see yourself in their positions.”
The next day, the fellows rose early again, spending the morning at City of Hope learning about the many departments and career opportunities. The afternoon was spent in Downtown Los Angeles touring the Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre. Over lunch, they listened to a panel discussion on careers in theater.
The day—and the trek—ended with a dinner with Pomona alumni at the City Club Los Angeles hosted by Halim Dhanidina ’94, a lawyer and former justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second District.
Now that the program is over, Medina is pondering a career in public administration, something she hadn’t considered before.
“The Smart Start program gave me the opportunity to see what brings passion to my heart, what lightens my soul, what sparks my interest,” she says.
This academic year, an anonymous Pomona family endowed the Smart Start Fellows Program, in addition to providing five years of essential bridge funding to ensure its continued impact and growth.