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March 28, 2024

Intersession courses offer networking opportunities

By MARCIA ZIMMERMAN | January 28, 2016

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Townsville chamber/cc by-sa 3.0 The media and PR class learned about how to always be prepared to network in any given situation.

For some, Intersession is a time to spend at home with family. For others, it’s is a time to take classes like “Beer History and Appreciation” or a four-day B’More class.

And yet for others, it is a time to network and explore potential career options in Pre-Career Intersession courses like “Media and PR in the Big Apple,” “Seminar in Financial Literacy” and “Perspectives on Globalization,” which all include a culminating trip to New York City where students can network and learn about career opportunities from professionals.

Students enrolled in the media and public relations course started with one week of in-class learning to get insight in the public relations, advertising and media fields. They heard from speakers working at companies like Pandora, IMRE, Baltimore Magazine and Maryland Public Television. The Baltimore Magazine speaker, Ken Iglehart, emailed and called Leslie Kendrick, the course’s instructor, to get one student’s contact information so that she could help with a high profile, upcoming story.

According to Kendrick, getting a job is not an unusual occurrence.

“One year, I had a sports reporter from WBAL TV speak during the Baltimore portion of the course. He promised an internship to anyone who answered a challenging sports question and a student landed an internship right there in the class,” Kendrick said.

Senior Christina Schnabel who took the course spoke about her experience.

“Just like the PR and media industry, this course is very fast paced,” Schnabel wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “You’ll get a lot of information in a short amount of time, and you have to be on for all of it. By the end you’ll be completely exhausted, but it is without a doubt one of the most valuable classes I have taken at Hopkins!”

The lectures from the Seminar in Financial Literacy were delivered by Hopkins alumni, providing a keen sense of exactly what Hopkins students can do to pursue a successful career in the financial industry. Sophomore Anisha Anand appreciated the resources the University provided.

“Every lecture has taught us about a different sector of the industry and each has been valuable, [especially] the ones that talked about how we need to capitalize on every opportunity we have at this school and every opportunity this school provides for us. Many students here don’t realize that this school actually has great resources and alums out there that are more than willing to help Hopkins students right now and as well as in the future when it comes to getting jobs,” Anand wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

“My favorite lecturer was Matthew Zaft [of The Zaft McKinney Group at Morgan Stanley, Class of 1994]. He spoke about the importance of networking no matter where you go and how important is to make as many connections and build as many relationships as possible,” she wrote.

Perspectives on Globalization featured assignments that allowed students to delve deeper into the complex and polarizing topic of globalization. The course’s final assignment could be either research-based or profession-based. The profession-based project gave students the opportunity to present a plan for developing their career, including active steps such as courses to take and internships to pursue as the student worked in conjunction with the instructor and Career Center personnel.

Teaching the Media and PR course also meant critiquing résumés with the Career Center’s Emily Calderone and working on networking skills. “While in Baltimore, Professor Kendrick provided us with terminology and essential resume critiques to help us ask the right questions and position ourselves as the best candidates for this industry,” Jasmine Kingston wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “The Wednesday night networking event with Johns Hopkins alumni really opened my eyes to just how deep our community ties reach. I have since followed up with the alumni I met and everyone has eagerly shared their experiences with me.”

Professor Kendrick also ensured that the speakers in Baltimore provided a foundation for the students to better understand the visits in New York.

“I try to have speakers locally that provide an industry background that prepares students for companies in New York. We heard a speaker from Maryland Public Television, which is very different from regular television in that they profit from sponsorships rather than advertisements,” Kendrick said. “Then we visited Sesame Workshop in New York where we heard about their challenges as a content provider for public television and how they recently partnered with HBO since not enough revenue was generated from sponsorships.”

What stood out for most students was the trip portion of the courses. Students appreciated the opportunity to network with professionals more than willing to answer any questions. In the Media and PR class, sophomore Alessandra Golden praised the trip.

“Getting to see the headquarters of major companies with services we interact with everyday is a great experience by itself, but getting tailored advice from professionals in the field is kind of unparalleled. I particularly enjoyed the various panels on this trip, as the panelists were often very relatable and offered helpful advice,” Golden wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

“The most memorable experience was probably at Sesame Street — they are an amazing company. The work they do, the way they use various forms of media, and the reach/impact they have on kids around the world is unbelievable. Google, Ogilvy, and Wall Street Journal were definitely great to tour,” she wrote.

Several people found job opportunities from these pre-career programs.

“At these banks, we would usually hear from a panel of Hopkins alums and then have the chance to speak with them after,” Anand wrote. “Many of these alums took the Financial Literacy class when they were undergrads and were able to get internships and full time offers at these banks due to the relationships they started through this class. To hear that and think of the possibility is very exciting.”

Kendrick, the course instructor, agreed and said that if students who take the course graduate go on to have careers in those fields, they often reach out to her and ask if they can host a current groups of students for the class in the future.


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