Career & Major Day

Sponsored by the Eagan Kick-Start Rotary Club

Inver Hills Community College hosted Career & Major Day Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016, in the Fine Arts building on the college’s main campus in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. The event focused on helping undecided students choose their majors and make plans for their future careers.

“Many students at Inver Hills haven’t made a final decision regarding their college major,” said Dionna Jones, director of the college’s Center for Experiential Learning. “More than one hundred and twenty-five of our students attended Career & Major Day, which was sponsored by the Eagan Kick-Start Rotary Club. We also hosted student groups from the AVID program at St. Paul Public Schools.”

Dionna added that students learned directly from working professionals in various fields. “Students explored the merits of different careers to help them determine a major and set career goals,” she said. “They took a free career assessment and spoke with faculty and alumni about their areas of study. The event also gave students the opportunity to declare or clarify their major of choice.”

Panelists presented during breakout sessions on a number of career areas, including:

• Business
• Health science technology
• Agriculture, food and natural resources
• Engineering, manufacturing and logistics
• Communications and information systems
• Human services
• Legal profession and law enforcement

Career & Major Day on Inver Hills Flickr

Working professional perspectives

“Career & Major Day provides an opportunity for open dialect and insight into a particular career field. I believe the event gives the presenter an opportunity to plant a seed of possibility into the future leaders.” — Sergeant John Daniels, Inver Grove Heights Police Department

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“With the help of many, the Eagan Kick-Start Rotary Club contributed to make Career & Major Day a successful afternoon of learning for Inver Hills and local high school students. The students were able to gain exposure via one-on-one conversations and panel discussions about a wide range of careers and industries while interacting with professionals in those industries and hearing their personal stories of how they advanced down their own career paths.

“Our hope is that the students were able to take what they heard to help find their own path and were motivated to continue their education. Our club was able to help by providing the students access to professionals from a wide range of industries and occupations. I think seeing firsthand the students take an active and engaging interest in a wide range of career fields was exciting. I could tell from those that engaged, a lot of value was taken from the day.

“From a Rotary standpoint, all of our members have a diverse story and a background of how we got to our current careers, and we were just happy that we were able to share our story. This is definitely something we could help with again in the future. The hope is that students learned something new that inspired them to reach for new heights down their own education and career path. — Eric Swanson, President, Eagan Kick-Start Rotary Club, Financial Advisor, Fireside Wealth, a Franchise of Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.

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“It was great to be involved in Career & Major Day at Inver Hills. It is good to see all the students exploring the opportunities in the accounting and finance professions. We are often looking for good students to hire in our field.” — Tom Hofstad, Partner, Boyum & Barenscheer

Student perspective

“Career & Major Day helped me connect with top industry professionals that are now helping me toward achieving my career goals. I learned a lot about other careers specific to my major that I had no idea about. The event was not only very fun, but also definitely helped lead me in the right direction.

“I’m grateful to Dionna for taking the time every year to make sure that students are connected to industry professionals. Making those connections are hard on your own so it’s very good that we have someone making it easier for us to make that bridge between the professional and student world.

“Because of Career & Major Day, I’ve been recommended for a summer internship with the Vikings at their training camp in Mankato by the director of human resources.” — Maayuk Eta, Inver Hills student

To learn more about Career & Major Day and experiential learning at Inver Hills, contact:

Dionna Jones
Center for Experiential Learning Director
651-450-3295