Mentors from corporations
teach students about
corporate world
By Laura Pelner
Campus
Editor
Select students in the School of Consumer and Family
Sciences will experience the corporate world from the inside this year
through an adoption program that pairs students with corporate mentors.
Eight members of the school's Multicultural Society
for Excellence were paired with some of the nation's leading corporations.
The students also received scholarship money, which goes to their tuition
and studies.
"The scholarship money is great," said Deborah
Lewis, program director. "But the experience of having a one-on-one
relationship with someone in a major corporation, you can't put a price
on that."
Through the adoption program students get to meet
a lot of executives in their corporation. "The companies oftentimes
will bring their students to the headquarters to see the different facets
of the company," Lewis said. "The mentors generally have studied in
the same major the students have studied in. The mentors have jobs the
students are hoping they'll receive when they get out."
This year five corporations became mentors to students
— Fifth Third Bank, J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Marriott International,
McDonalds corporation and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. Eight students
from the School of Consumer and Family Sciences were adopted —
sophomores Beena Vaidyan and Leticia Nevarez; juniors Latoya Williams,
Alana Cobb, Willena Hollingsworth, Sarena Wills and Torrance Williams;
and senior Charisse Isabell.
"I'm pretty excited about it," said Cobb, who's
paired with Marriott Hotels. "I'll get to do a lot of networking and
possibly do an internship (in the summer)."
Cobb said she's hoping the experience is a useful
one for her future and that it might lead to a permanent position when
she graduates.
Wills, who's also paired with Marriott, was in
the program and worked with Marriott last year, had an internship with
them this past summer and is sponsored by them again this year.
"Personally, I think the program helps out as far
as learning the industry while I'm still in school," Wills said. "And
also, it's going to be a good tool for the future. If I'm going to work
with them or another company, this will at least help me know what business
ethics are and what companies are expecting so I can be prepared."
Kim Pinn, a senior in the School of Consumer and
Family Sciences, was in the program last year and she said the relationships
she formed with corporate employees were great.
"The corporate adoption program was extremely rewarding
for me," Pinn said. "Along with receiving a scholarship, I developed
relationships with key people in the company. I feel like I got a head
start in my professional career."
Students are selected for the program based on
their major, grade point average and membership in the Multicultural
Society for Excellence. Lewis said she selects the members based on
those criteria and the needs of the corporations involved.
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