After working as a Resident Assistant in 70 McCormick Road last year, Sarah Krikorian ’14 realized the difference she could make in her community.
“I enjoyed the Service for Justice Residential College and the program,” Krikorian said. “I learned so much as a Resident Assistant about giving back.”
Yesterday Krikorian attended the nonprofit and post-grad service career fair in the Oak Room and met with representatives of nonprofit organizations about volunteering her time after graduation.
“I wasn’t planning on coming, but now I’m genuinely interested in everything I see and the people here seem genuinely interested in this,” she said.
This year marks the first time that Campus Ministry and the Career Planning Center have combined to organize the event, which brought in nonprofit organizations such as Teach for America, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry and Project Purple.
“I don’t want people to think that there is only work or grad school after college. I want people to know that there are other options,” said Cathleen Borgman ‘80, director of the Career Planning Center. “Not everybody is wired the same way and you shouldn’t have to go down the same path.”
The annual event has been organized by Campus Ministry for at least 10 years. It began as a faith-based event where Catholic-affiliated organizations would be invited to Fairfield to connect with students, and it has expanded to include organizations without religious affiliation.
“Campus Ministry and Career Planning combined efforts … and we’re going to try and make it bigger and bigger,” Borgman said.
Campus Minister for Immersions and Pilgrimages Jocelyn Collen ‘06 volunteered with FrancisCorps at a women’s shelter after graduation and “saw the real world.”
“Going and spending time with people who are in shelters, you spend a lot of time learning about the real world that you never learn otherwise,” Collen said.
Students might be undecided about their future after college; volunteering their time can help them figure out what they want to be “when they grow up,” Colleen continued. What is most important is that students “know what they have to offer, what their gifts are, and what they like to do” when applying because it is really about “sharing our talents with people who don’t have what we have.”
For Brother Patrick Carey of the Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers, besides students having a 3.0 GPA and being involved in service beforehand, it is important that they have “an energy, a certain creativity and a generosity of heart.”
“I’ve had the impression and I’ve already had evidence that there is a space for service at Fairfield,” Carey said.
Students in attendance enjoyed the diverse organizations and how they were geared to all majors.
Senior Stephanie Lee, majoring in English, said, “I walked in here not knowing what to expect, but I enjoyed it, and talking to people wasn’t as frightening as I thought it would be.”
For Emily Goodman ’14, who is double-majoring in psychology and sociology, coming to career fairs has not attracted her because they are all about “accounting, accounting, accounting … and I don’t bother showing up because I don’t have the background for it,” she said, but Tuesday’s event grabbed her attention.
“I saw this and said, ‘Oh, something for me,’ and so here I am,” she added.
According to Krikorian, “One individual with a passion and an interest in something can make a difference.”
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