News Release

Alumni tell students to be involved and take advantage of resources

September 29, 2008

Left to right, Jenna Charles ’05, Kathleen White ’91/’00g,
Todd Lewis ’08, Amy Leonard ’04, and Ed Miller ’06.

Be involved, land an internship early, take advantage of all the college’s resources, and be very careful of social networking.

These and other valuable, career-building pieces of advices were shared by a panel of alumni at the “Making the Most of Penn State Harrisburg” forum for current students recently.

Hosted by the college’s Office of Alumni Relations, the panel discussion featured: Jenna Charles ’05, Todd Lewis ’08, Ed Miller ’06, Amy Leonard ’04, and Kathleen White ’91/’00g. The program particularly targeted students in the First-Year Seminar, assisting them in setting goals and strategies to carry them through their academic experience.

The alumni first described the varying ways in which they came to Penn State Harrisburg, indicative of the many avenues students take en route to a degree at the college. Jenna began at Penn State Altoona and found it “was not a fit” for her; Todd, a Structural Design and Construction Technology major, was one of the first freshman admitted in 2004 when the college completed the transition to a four-year undergraduate institution; Ed was among the very first freshman at the college when Information Sciences and Technology became the first four-year program; Amy first went to HACC and moved on to Penn State Harrisburg though the dual enrollment program; and Kathleen was a nontraditional student, returning to college after the death of her husband to earn a Secondary Education English degree.

The panelists were unanimous in encouraging the young students to become involved as much as possible. “Get involved. Take advantage of all the services the college has to offer – Career Services, internships, tutoring, clubs and organizations. Don’t just hang out, network and meet new people,” Ed advised. Kathleen added, “Take people with you after you leave,” referring to maintaining relationships with fellow students and faculty. She pointed out that “professors remained my mentors long after graduation.”

Todd said he “draws on the expertise of fellow graduates” on the job, seeking out former classmates with more experience who can assist him with professional challenges.

Jenna also encouraged the students to “take a range of classes outside your major,” remarking took electives in microbiology and criminal justice which are quite valuable to her in her role as a public relations professional with a health-related nonprofit working with developmentally disabled individuals.

But it was the internship experience which all five pointed to as one of the most eye-opening and valuable ingredients in their education. Ed stressed that the earlier an internship is undertaken in a student’s academic career, the better the impact. “You really learn a lot in an internship. There is nothing like the hands-on experience.”

Todd added that his internship resulted in full-time employment in his structural engineering field upon graduation. Kathleen, now an assistant principal, added that “Penn State Harrisburg really prepared us for student teaching. Among all the colleges I now deal with professionally, Penn State Harrisburg students are among the best prepared to teach.”

And from Kathleen came a word of caution. “Be careful what you place on your MySpace pages.” She explains that the social networking web pages have cost people possible employment and a great deal of embarrassment. “Be careful what you do with your time and what you post on the web. Your character is at stake.”