I wanted to take my third event reflection piece to write about an event I helped organize. I work as a Strategic Sustainability Plan Ambassador at the Wesleyan Sustainability Office. As part of my work under the SSP goal 2.3 which aims to “expand opportunities for student professional development in sustainability and environmental justice”, I worked with Felicity Guevara and Ruthann Coyote to organize an alumni career panel with a focus on sustainability and the environment. Outside of my employment at the University Communication Center and Sustainability Office, I’m not actively involved in any clubs or organizations. I decided not to join any clubs or organizations for my first year because I wanted to adjust to living in the United States without worrying about an inflexible schedule. The alumni career panel marked my first on-campus event involvement and I’m glad to have learned about what goes into organizing a Career Center Event.
In March, Felicity reached out to me for contact information for alumni working in the environment and sustainability fields. As part of my work in the Fall semester, I had worked with Michael Minars to compile an extensive list of alumni in the field to make it easier for current students to reach out to them for interviews, coffee chats, and networking opportunities. It also sets the university up to form a stronger community between alumni and current students. In addition to giving Felicity the information, I continued to help with the brainstorming and planning of the event. The whole planning process was quite streamlined and simple. We needed to contact alumni from different backgrounds and have at least 4 to 5 people on the panel. We decided on an online panel which made it marginally easier to organize overall. We had around 10 attendees for the panel which is an average number for alumni career panels. We had five alumni on the panel with various experiences and at different points in their careers. We had Rhea Drozdenko, ’17, River Steward at Connecticut River Conservancy; Aaron Veerasuntharam, ’14, Chief Sustainability Office at Cisco; Molly Chafetz, ’06, Director at Telluray Foundation; Aquia Providence, ’24, Environmental Scientist at Fuss and O’Neill; and DeNeile Cooper ’15, Manager at The Recycling Partnership. I was proud of our school’s alumni and felt empowered to achieve positive change in my own way as well.
Understanding the behind the scenes has increased my appreciation for the events but also lowered the apprehension I felt about my capabilities. It helped me to face the unknown that was organizing events here at Wesleyan. My apprehension came from not knowing the standard of execution in this new environment. But I realized that people’s efforts are appreciated, big or small. While swapping emails back and forth, alongside phone calls and Zoom meetings, I felt my fear melt away and I became more confident. I could organize several such events in tandem if I played my cards right and planned my schedule well. I’m excited to organize events and contribute to a vibrant campus life next year!
