Alumni Give Students Advice at Career Fair

          On Wednesday, April 24, Student Council hosted an Alumni Career Fair for the IV and V Forms. Led by Bryce Langdon ’24 and Conan Chen ’24, the 2023-24 School President and Vice President of Academics respectively, the event was an opportunity for upperformers to meet Lawrenceville alumni and hear about their careers, furthering Langdon and Chen’s attempt to promote more active engagement between students and alumni. 

          The exploration opened with remarks from Carter Cikovic ’14 and Tanique Dunkley ’94 on their careers and the importance of networking. Students could then move freely to converse with alumni from different fields and listen to their advice. 

          As Langdon’s platform highlighted this key initiative, he explained the importance of the Alumni Career Fair stating, “There’s not that many opportunities for students to connect with alumni, so that’s why [the Student Council] thought it’d be good.” The Student Council worked closely with the Alumni Development Office this year with efforts to provide more connection between current students and alums. “[The office] has been incredibly helpful throughout the entire year, and they were really excited about the idea to work with us a little bit more,” he continued. Bringing this idea to life, 20 alumni were then invited to return to campus for the fair, assembling a group of Lawrenceville graduates in numerous industries who were available to interact with students at the Career Fair. 

          The fair additionally offered students the chance to explore fields they had previously not considered. IV Form student Celine Fong ’25 remarked, “I was never really interested in [the medical field], but after talking to people [at the event], I thought that it would potentially be something that I could do.” Aside from exposing the IV and V Formers to industries they had not previously explored, the fair helped students envision themselves in new career paths. “One of the legal representatives I spoke to was in the Kirby House. I’m in Kirby, so we [bonded] over that. It was like I was talking to a friend,” Fong noted. 

Sameer Menghani ’24 added that he valued the experience because students “get to hear [alumni] speaking on the [Kirby Arts Center] stage, but getting to talk to them in person is pretty different.”

          Some students mentioned that certain future changes to the event may be useful. Fong shared that she would have appreciated more guidance, as she struggled with “having to insert [herself] into conversations… and thinking of questions to ask.” Menghani remarked that finding a way for underformers to interact with alumni is something he thinks would be beneficial. 

          Langdon also expressed support for that idea and mentioned that he sees the event including more industries in the future. He said, “There’s a lot of room for expansion … just because it’s the first time we have done [this event], but overall it was a huge success.” Many echoed his sentiment. 

          The Alumni Career Fair was appreciated by both IV and V Formers alike, giving them skills to navigate their future careers and find success through the insights of previous Lawrentians.