New Name, New Opportunities

By Charles McKenzie, February 16, 2023

Center for Career Exploration and Development celebrates Career Opportunities Week.

The chance to meet with members of the Center for Career Exploration and Development was one of the highlights of Career Opportunities Week.

(Photo by Charles McKenzie)

Ithaca College’s newly renamed Center for Career Exploration and Development (previously Career Services) celebrated Career Opportunities Week during the first week of February. The center showed off its new brand and expanded services while also offering current students a chance to hear from successful alumni about their paths through IC.

The week kicked off with an open house at the center along with how-to information sessions, such as getting the most out of a career fair and writing a résumé. Later in the week, more than 80 employers gathered to talk to current students about postgraduation opportunities. Several of these employers counted former Bombers in their ranks.

Among the returning Bombers was Mary Orsaio ’13, who was recruiting students to join the Ithaca Police Department, where she works as an officer and an LGBTQ+ liaison. She said she didn’t take advantage of career services when she was a student.

“But I really wish I had,” said Orsaio. “I would’ve asked more about where I should go next. My internships were not that fantastic, and I wish I had had more support and was more informed about the center. It would have helped a lot.”

The career and internship fair gave students the chance to meet with more than 80 employers.

(Photos by Charles McKenzie)

Another highlight of the week was the center’s Intercultural Career Connections Panel, which brought back to campus recent alumni who represented diverse identities and professions. This event was a collaboration among the Center for Career Exploration and Development; the Center for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Social Change (IDEAS); and the Office of Access, Opportunity, and Achievement.

Jhonny Perez ’18 fondly recalled his IC experience during the panel: “It was very much experiential. I was someone who wanted to be in the thick of things, and I learned best by doing.”

(From left) Jhonny Perez ’18, Heather Crespin ’16, Olivia (Via) Carpenter ’22, and Omar Stoute ’18 shared their experiences with students during the Intercultural Career Connections Panel.

(Photo by Charles McKenzie)

Perez had trouble finding an internship as a first-year student but landed one in his sophomore year. He went on to work in the career center as a peer career advisor. After IC, he worked in sports marketing, business, and the hospitality industry before accepting a role as director of outreach at his alma mater, a college-preparatory boarding school that sought to attract more students and faculty of color. Though he had come full circle in a sense, having returned his former high school, the role was very different from where his career path began

Jhonny Perez ’18 was able to talk with students in a one-on-one setting during the event.

“You know, it’s not as linear as you always think,” he said. “Things happen for a reason, but you just have to continue to persevere, work hard, and trust the process.”

Also taking part in the panel was Olivia “Via” Carpenter ’22 who, even before graduation, had created her own job. She started Via’s Cookies while a student and honed her plans thanks to the college’s Startup Demo Day, during which she won $5,800.

“And I just kept going from there, pushing my business up and up,” she said, taking advantage of every opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship. “That became my life for the next two years, and now it’s what I do full time.”

She listed all the professors, classes, and extracurricular activities that helped her along the way, which is why it was important to her to speak at the panel—and to bring boxes of cookies to share.

“One of the things that was important for me to learn here was to ask for help because I’m so used to doing everything on my own. I’m one of those people who thought, ‘I know I’m going do it better if I do it alone.’ And you can’t do that your whole life or you’re going to miss so much.”

These words of wisdom had an impact on current students like Isaac Perez ’23, a first-generation college student.

“As a person of color, it was great to see others who have been here and gone on to be so successful. I wanted to hear from their experiences, learn from them, and apply it to myself. When they started, some of them didn’t know what they wanted to do, and for some, where they are now is nowhere near where they started.”

Isaac Perez ’23

As a person of color, it was great to see others who have been here and gone on to be so successful,” Perez said. “I wanted to hear from their experiences, learn from them, and apply it to myself. When they started, some of them didn’t know what they wanted to do, and for some, where they are now is nowhere near where they started.”

This sort of feedback—and stories from alumni like Jhonny Perez—is emblematic of why staff sought to celebrate the journey by adding processes like “exploration” and “development” to the center’s official name. Too many students thought “career services” was where they went when they wanted to find a job, said the new director Dave Curry.

“We want to engage students early and help them work through a four-year plan before they launch,” he said.

The new brand also helps students become reacquainted with the center, which was forced by the pandemic to alter many of its services.

“This better describes what we do and what we hope to accomplish,” Curry said. “Sharing our story across campus has been empowering and invigorating. Journeys change, and we want to be there to help provide support, whether they are students or our amazing alumni.”