MC_2006_Spring_27
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Opportunities Galore at Career Draddy Gymnasium was transformed into a job marketplace that included booths, banners, brochures, professionals and students. The offices of career development and alumni relations hosted Manhattan College’s annual Career Fair this past October, where more than 110 companies, universities, law enforcement divisions and nonprofit agencies gathered to meet with and speak to interested students about job opportunities, internships or co-op positions. “With such a large number of companies attending, students had a wide array of industries to broaden their possibilities for employment,” says Marjorie Apel, director of the center for career development. “How many people get to network with over 100 companies in one day!”
Fair 2005
upon the value of continuing education. A student could explore the possibility of a career with the NYPD, Merrill Lynch, Turner Construction or Con Edison, while learning more about positions within a company, protocol, interview etiquette or proper dress code. The Career Fair is brought together through the hard work of those offices on campus but also through the efforts of alumni volunteers. Ken Kelly ’54 is one of the many volunteers who personally call more than 500 companies to invite
them to participate in the event. The Alumni Society provided a booth that offered personalized business cards that were produced on the spot for current Manhattan students and added a polished touch when a student met a potential employer. Manhattan College is dedicated to the preparedness of its students, and the Career Fair is an excellent venue for them to experience that first contact with the professional community while viewing some of the many choices that lie ahead.
Roseanne Forde, from New York Life Insurance, and Sarah Veitch ’06, a student in the school of business, meet at the Career Fair in October.
The Career Fair is an excellent way for students to meet potential employers, have their résumés read and reviewed, arrange for job interviews or realize the scope of opportunities that await them after graduation from Manhattan. Pace University Law and Columbia University Law, along with other higher education institutions, were on hand to expound
Joining Hands in
Katrina Relief
After enjoying the holidays with family, Manhattan students spent part of their winter breaks assisting in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Ten students in January traveled to New Orleans to volunteer with Operation Helping Hands, created by the Archdiocese of New Orleans for Katrina relief. The students spent seven days gutting ruined homes and completely stripping them down to the studs and beams. More than 100,000 homes in New Orleans experienced damage from the hurricane, some worse than others.
Student volunteers in one of the ruined homes they gutted while volunteering in New Orleans.
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“We worked on four houses in seven days, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s definitely progress,” says Frank Gizzo ’03, graduate assistant in campus ministry and social action and the team leader of the trip. Like many of the students that participated in the trip, Gizzo also was interested in witnessing the devastation firsthand.
“Block after block for miles and miles in certain sections of New Orleans, you’d see garbage piled up, ruined homes, cars overturned and boats in the middle of the street,” Gizzo adds. It was a completely different experience being there in person, he says, especially after visiting the Ninth Ward, which suffered the most damage. “I was awestruck,” Gizzo says. “Everything is leveled, no exaggeration. All of the homes are gone. There’s just debris left.” Kinah Ventura-Rosas, coordinator in campus ministry and social action, says the purpose of these service-learning trips has always been to encourage the students to give back to the community and expose them to different, unique experiences. In the past, student volunteers traveled to Honduras, where they helped build homes in some of the poorest communities, and to Texas,