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Student job-seekers flock to career fair BY LAYLA GARMS THE CHRONICLE Eyadiel Hundreds of students flocked to Wake Forest University's Benson Center last week, hoping to land jobs, internships or gain networking experi ence during the school's Spring 2013 Career Fair. A. Wake Forest tradi tion for over two decades, the fairs, which are held in the spring and fall, afford students the opportunity to come face to face with potential employers with out ever having to leave the comfort of their own campus. Mercy Eyadiel, executive director of employer Relations for the university and a 16-year veteran of the field, said stag ing the fair on campus is con venient, and it allows the employers to get a feel for the campus culture i ? ? ami acaaemic rigor tnai is required of students. Many professors use the fair as a resource to inform and enhance what they're teaching in the classroom by interacting with employers in their field of study, Eyadiel added. Professor Roger Beahm, executive director of the Wake Forest Center for Retail Innovation, said the career fairs present a welcome opportunity for him to market the Center as well as identify valu able resources his students can tap into. "I want to learn as much about the opportuni ties that are out there as possible," said the University of Colorado at Boulder alumnus. "Companies that partici pate in this fair demon strate their interest in our students and obviously, the best place for our stu dents to look (for employ ment) is with companies that are interested in them." Beahm said he encour ages all his students to attend the fairs whenever possible. "The students are a brand they have to sell to their future employers and the first thing they have to do is build awareness," remarked the four decade veteran of the marketing field. "By going to the fairs, they can introduce themselves in person. That is so much better. They can get through the first and even second stage of the qualification process, and accelerating that process - especially this time of year - is critical. It really is to their advantage." Nearly 60 employers were on hand for the spring fair, an increase of roughly 30 percent, Eyadiel said. The Nashville, Tenn.-native said she was hopeful the fair, which was intention ally diverse in its offer ings, would help the stu dents that participated get a jump on their careers. "I'm proud of the fact that Wake Forest is really making an investment into the post-graduation out comes of our students," she said. "You will see that is a really big part of our culture. We really value and care about what happens to our students once they leave here." Cincinatti. Ohio native Wesley Lenear will be completing the school's Photos by Layla Garms From left: Justin Stevens, Sucheta Desai, Jessica Reynolds and Mark Generalovich of United Technologies. Allscripts' Nickey Owens chats with a student. Master of Arts and Management program in May. He came to the Jan. 23 fair in search of his next move. "The career fair is part of our course work," explained the Indiana State University alumnus. "We're required to come out here and get in front of the employers. I think it's a good thing as well to kind of get us some expo sure." The Spring Fair was the fifth Lenear has attended and he said he is learning the lay of the land. Wednesday's fair had a broad sampling of employers, which was appealing to him, Lenear added. "I think it's a very good selection," remarked the 22 year-old, who added that he was consid ering applying for posi tions at at least two of the companies he encountered that day. "There's lots of big name brand companies like Pepsico and GE and you also have smaller businesses as well. It's a good mix." It wasn't long ago that Connecticut native Justin Stevens was trolling career fairs himself, look ing for the right fit. Now Stevens, 23, is working to bring other bright employ ees into the fold at United Technologies, a multina tional manufacturing com pany. Stevens and three of his colleagues from United's Charlotte office represented the company in its first appearance at the WFU career fair. The group was recruiting can didates for United's Financial Leadership pro gram, a two year rotation al program that gives par ticipants a taste of every aspect of its varied busi ness ventures. "It's a great way to experience a lot of career areas very quickly," said Stevens, who is in his sec ond year with the pro gram. "It's been a great experience for me, just the networks that I've estab lished and the work expe rience that I've been able to gain over this time peri od." Nickey Owens and her team of recruiters are Wesley Lenear looking to fill more than 100 full-time positions at Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, which special izes in electronic medical records. Owens, who is based in Raleigh, travels up and down the East Coast looking for strong candidates to satisfy the growing number of posi tions in the field. "We're really trying to target specific schools so that we can get the best quality and not quantity," explained Owens, who plans to* attend 20 fairs during the spring semes ter. "I made sure this year that this was a target school because this is an active school. I've had interns from here working with me in the past, so 1 know how good the stu dents are." Owens said she was not disappointed by the caliber of potential employees she encoun tered last week. "This is the best career fair that I've been to all year, hands down," she declared. "The students are way more professional and a lot more prepared. I am highly impressed." School from page AI Griggs The school, which will initially be open to grades K-5, will offer North Carolina standard course of study, in addition to les sons on important compo nents of the Islamic faith, making time for daily prayers and honoring Islamic holidays, Mrs. Griggs said. In a post-9-11 world, the need for such a supportive community is real, she added. While some Muslim children fare fanA in nnklin Ullt, 111 puuilk schools, others grapple with harassment from other stu dents and teachers who refuse to learn the correct pro nunciation of their names or honor their Calls to Prayer. "Islam has been linked with terrorism and it's hard on our chil dren," remarked the city native, who has taught at the mosque for 30 years. "Parents want their chil dren to be in a safe envi ronment where they can practice their faith. We want what all parents want for their children: a good education and a safe envi ronment." Muslim children in public schools face a vol ley of obstacles to observ ing their faith, from cafete ria food that sometimes doesn't adhere to Muslim diet restrictions, to secular and Christian cultural ideals and practices that Muslims don't share, such as dating. Mrs. Griggs said. "They're living in two different worlds and they're having to adjust to that," she remarked. "... I'm not sure parents really understand what their chil dren are going through in public schools. They can't really be Muslim in public schools." The house will need renovations in order to 155 brought up to code and made suitable for a school, a task that will require con siderable time and money, Griggs said, but the com i ' munity's response to the project leaves no question in her mind that the effort will not be in vain. "It's a tremendous undertaking and it would not happen without help of the parents, the existing staff of the part time school and the entire Community Mosque community." she remarked. "Everybody has been so wonderful. We're trying to raise funds right now to close on the proper ty and everybody's chip ping in, even the children." Academy officials had considered another loca tion for the school, but the project never came to fruition. Having a site that can be encom passed into the mosque's cam pus is quite liter ally a godsend. Griggs said. "It's from _ j ?. ? f uoa, 11 s irom Allah," declared the grandmother of six."... It's a wonderful experi ence. It's an adventure, it's a nice adventure. I'm tired in the evenings when I lay down, but it's a good tired. It's a peaceful tired." The school will charge a monthly tuition of $450 for one child, with dis counts for each additional child a given family enrolls, and Academy lead ers say they are already working to secure some scholarship funds for fami lies who need them. Mosque member Shaid Chaudhary said he's already picked up applica tions to enroll his seven year-old daughter and four year-old son, who is slated to start kindergarten in the fall. "I think it's really great because we need to teach our kids about Islam because there are so many distractions here every sin gle day," said the Rawal Pindi, Pakistan native. "I struggle with that with my kids too. It's hard to kind of teach them the right way, which is Islam." Chaudhary said he wor ries about the influences his children are exposed to in public school. The father of three is a member of the > Board of Directors and a teacher at the Academy, but he says the weekend acad emy simply isn't enough. "I'm trying to teach kids about Islam - that's all I want to do - but it's chal lenging in this environ ment." said the Volvo Financial Services IT pro fessional. "They go to pub lic school everyday ... they're getting knowledge about other things a lot more than about Islam so 1 think it's really important to have a full time school." For more information about Community Mosque Academy Inc., visit wwwoommunirvmosque co m or call (336) 650-1095. I Williams named emergency nursing director Williams SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE Debra Williams, RN, has joined Cone . II..LL I neaun as nurs ing director for Emergency Services at Wesley Long Hospital in Greensboro. Williams will oversee operation of the :><t-Dea, 130 cmployce emergency department. The newly constructed department will see more than 48,000 patients this year. Williams has spent much of her nearly 30 year nursing career in emergency serv | ices. "There are few places where the Cone Health value of 'Caring for our Patients' comes into such sharp focus as in the emergency department," she said. "People come to us hurt and scared, and we pro vide the comfort and care they need." Williams comes to Cone Health from Garden City, Mich., where she worked in progressively responsible positions, including vice president of Operations, chief nursing officer and director of Emergency Services. "Williams brings invaluable experience to our fast-paced emergency department," says Annette Smith. RN, vice president of Nursing and Patient Services at Wesley Long. "We look forward to her talents and leadership fur ther improving the service and care that we bring to every patient who visits our new Emergency Department." ??? 1 Thinking about graduate school. Want to learn abdHI the opportunities UNC Greensboro\ you are invited to attend UNCG's annual Spring Graduate School Information Session on Monday, February 4, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Workshops will include "Building a Strong Application," "Graduate Student Life at UNCG" and "Financing Your Graduate Education". Meet with program representatives and faculty. Free parking. For additional information and to register for the event, visit our web site at grs.uncg.edu/infosession or call 336.334.5596. THE UNIVERSITY tf MOUTH CAROLINA GREENSBORO
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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