CO UR T E S Y OF J A HKEEM WHE AT LE Y ‘19
Centro, the two formed ECVI. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Keller says, they wanted to make ECVI “part of what Oberlin is already equipped to fund and support.” ECVI grew from a small group of two or three students teaching citizenship classes in 2014 to a fully formed organization in 2018. Through collaboration with Oberlin College faculty and academic departments, including Hispanic studies, politics, history, and comparative American studies, ECVI now has 35 volunteers who teach citizenship and English classes every week, an administrative board, and working groups focused on fundraising and grant writing, curriculum development, and general coordinating efforts. A partnership with the Bonner Center allows five Bonner Scholars to dedicate their full service time to El Centro. This year, Belkis Moreno ’22 and Samantha Perez ’21 took over the coordinator roles from Martinez and Keller. By tapping into the college’s networks, ECVI provides a practicum component to students’ academic studies. “The great thing about ECVI is that we’re giving students at Oberlin the opportunity to engage in professional skills that they can use in other community organizations,” Keller says. “I think one of the biggest things that we’ve been able to do is get students connected who might not otherwise know how they can contribute.” Wren Fiocco ‘20, who coordinated the ESOL portion of the ECVI curriculum, found the interpersonal aspects of the volunteering most important. “I feel like I learn just as much as I teach, and the people who come to the classes are really incredible. I love working one-on-one with them,” Fiocco says. “We laugh a lot in class, and connecting with people has been super impactful for me.” OBERLIN ALUMNI MAGAZINE 2019 / FALL/WINTER
From left, actor Harrison Lee, Jad Kaiss ’19, Jahkeem Wheatley ’19, and management consultant Mitch Weiss ’74 get a backstage tour of The Lion King on Broadway.
STEP UP FOR STUDENTS
Career Communities Prepare Students for Life After Oberlin BY AMANDA NAGY
an expanding internship initiative launched last year is helping students in their third and fourth years to visualize career outcomes through fully funded positions offered by alumni and Oberlin parents. Developed in collaboration with the Career Development Center, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, Oberlin’s Career Communities connect students with alumni, parents, and faculty who share an interest or expertise in a particular employment area. This summer, 80 students were selected through a rigorous application process and placed in financially supported internships in the areas of business and finance, nonprofit and public sector, arts and creative fields, and entrepreneurship. The 2019-20 year saw several new communities offered: education; law and public policy; medical, public, and global health professions; science and technology; and music and leadership. The mission of Career Communities is to create an opportunity for students to gain the skills and training they need to thrive beyond Oberlin,
explains Dana Hamdan, associate dean of students and executive director of the Career Development Center. “What our Career Communities are fundamentally about is helping students in the early stages of their undergraduate careers think about their lives after Oberlin,” says President Carmen Ambar. Students who are accepted to join a career community complete a one-credit cocurricular course taught by Career Development Center staff and faculty and meet in interactive workshops during the semester, leading up to their summer internship. Oberlin Board of Trustees Chairman Chris Canavan ’84 hosted an internship for fourth-year Maya English at Soros Fund Management, where he is the director. Canavan says what makes Career Communities a success is that the interns are Obies. “They bring to work those qualities we fellow Obies recognize immediately: the instinct to question, to probe; a cool skepticism of received wisdom; and a healthy irreverence,” Canavan says. “An intern who arrives with a fresh perspective and the self-confidence to ask questions—an Obie— can make a difference. That’s why I would host another intern again in a second, not only because it’s one way I can give back to Oberlin, but because it’s another way that Oberlin continues to give to me.” 9