UPDATED 11/17 at 10:24 p.m.
Around 95 students interested in pursuing careers with nonprofits and educational organizations attended the Hiatt Community Impact and Education Fair on Thursday, Oct. 24. Hiatt recruited over 60 local presenters to connect with Brandeis students.
The Community Connections Club, a subsect of the Waltham group, assisted Hiatt in organizing the fair. Community Connections organizes other one day service programs in addition to the Community Impact and Education Fair.
Coordinators of Community Connections, Ashley Bass ’20, Megan Catalano ’21 and Jac Guerra ’22 each suggested that the Community Impact and Education Fair was created for the benefit of students with a path less traditional than medicine, law or business.
Bass hoped the program would engage students invested in making a difference and introduce them to the variety of career options they have. Catalano reflected that she was excited to watch the event come to life after planning it with Hiatt since August.
Bass and Catalano advertised for the event on social media and organized a Wake and Shake a day prior to the event, encouraging more students to register for the event with enticing apple cider at their display outside Usdan. Presenters ranged from organizations based in Waltham to programs with bases around the world.
The potential employers included organizations such as Eastern Girl Scouts, Teach for America and City Year. Many of the opportunities centered around working with children in lower income areas, ranging from preschool to high school, and others focused on mental health issues. Some summer camps/engagement programs participated, including Camp Micah, Nashoba School, Meadowscaping for Biodiversity and Breakthrough Boston.
Organizations local to the area participated as well and many of them were seeking interns and/or volunteers for the upcoming Spring semester. Walker, a non profit school based in Needham, was hoping to connect with part time help for the 2019 year, seeking Brandeis students interested in working with children four to 12 who’ve experienced trauma or mental health issues.
The Leland home, the location of one of the Waltham Group Companions to Elders programs, was also looking for interns, considering students specifically interested in either media or development. In addition, the local group the Waltham Partnership for Youth is hiring new volunteers and interns for their program within the Waltham public high school and their program conducting research regarding transportation availability for Waltham youth.
Many of these organizations even highlighted that they had previously hired Brandeis students. Participating students and presenters were treated to lunch at 12 p.m. by the Waltham Group. The event engaged a large variety of students and emphasized the importance of engaging students interested in service with career opportunities.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelled Jac Guerra’s name.
