Sallyportal: Madly Blogging Reed

Working Weekend Connects Seekers with Knowers

By Lauren Cooper ’16 on February 11, 2015 10:30 AM

Data scientists Ross Donaldson '06, Allison Morgan '14, and Melissa Lewis '13 share career advice with Reed students at Working Weekend.

Building a career is dependent on both what you know and whom you know, as Reed’s fourth annual Working Weekend proved. The event, organized by the Center for Life Beyond Reed, attracted a record 336 students and young alumni who came to network with more experienced alumni and gain job-seeking skills.

Reed alumni created Working Weekend three years ago to help students transition from college to career. The two-day event brings alumni panelists from around the country to mentor students, answer questions and provide a window on the world of careers such as banking, law, medicine, technology, music, writing, and food.

The campus buzzed with notable alumni, including:

Roger Hobbs ’11, who wrote his best-selling novel Ghostman while finishing his English thesis. Hobbs served on the panel “Creators: Writers for Life.” 

Nicole Wiswell ’03, an Engineer Officer/Platoon Leader for the U.S. Army, who hosted two panels, “Builders: Career Ins and Outs: LBGT Reedies,” and “Stewards: Reedies in the Military.”

Trustee Alex Martinez ’73, a former justice on Colorado’s Supreme Court, who hosted “Innovators: Reedies of Color."

Students made personal connections with more than 100 mentors during the weekend’s MeetUp program, which paired students with alumni, parents, and other volunteers in one-on-one sessions for career and internship advice.

The weekend also featured a Radio BootCamp hosted by Robert Smith ’89, correspondent for NPR’s Planet Money, and Miles Bryan ’13, news anchor with Wyoming Public Media, which provided students a crash course in radio journalism by recording and editing a minute-long radio segment.

Tags: alumni, life beyond reed, careers,