The Senior Summit: Navigating What’s Next

On Tuesday, October 28th, eight Wake Forest alumni joined together on campus to be a part of a new initiative put on by the Office of Alumni Engagement and the Office of Personal and Career Development (OPCD). The intent of The Senior Summit: Navigating What’s Next was to help 30+ seniors engage in this process in the supportive environment of alumni interested in investing personally and professionally in their career development while sharing a meal. Thanks to our alumni volunteers for this event! We could not do it without you.

— Non-Profit/Service: Alana James (’09)
Director, Community Planning and Investment at United Way of Forsyth County
— Technology: Tommy Minta (’08, MS ’11)
Solutions Engineer at Genesys
— Financial Services: Robert Bloomer (’07)
VP, Compensation Segment Manager at BB&T
— Medicine/Healthcare: Dr. Matt Cline (’04, MD ’09)
Emergency Physician for Forsyth County EMS
— Law/Government: Charlie McCurry (’05, JD ’08)
Commercial Broker at Commercial Realty Advisors
— Marketing/Advertising: Donna Cauble (’07, MBA ’14)
Sales & Marketing Analyst at BB&T Capital Markets
— Fine Arts Administration: Anna Marie Carr (’11)
Development & Marketing Manager at The Children’s Museum
— Entrepreneurship: Ben Marsh (’03)
President of BNLB Construction

Some Feedback from Students about the impact of Alumni at “The Senior Summit″:

• “This event definitely made me feel better about the process of figuring out what is next. I particularly enjoyed what one alum had to say about each student who graduates from here having a really valuable liberal arts education and that it really will get you somewhere in the world outside Wake.” – Class of 2015 participant
• “I loved all of the pieces of advice given at the end of the evening to the entire group. I was at the technology table, but what the alum from the law table had to say about taking a chance on who you are as a person, and being true to what is important to you, really resonated with me.” – Class of 2015 participant
• “The event as a whole was really wonderful… I did not want it to end! I took to heart in particular two pieces of advice that had a big impact on my table: “take blame when it’s probably not your fault. Give credit when it’s probably because of you.” “Take the first step to try. Don’t be afraid to fail.” – Class of 2015 participant

The Senior Summit will continue to be a program that connects current students with alumni around a particular career track.

If you would be interested in serving as an on campus alumni contributor in the 2014-2015 school year, or bringing something like this to your local alumni club, please reach out to Stephen Edwards.