Finally, we reach the ultimate day of the Fullbridge Program and my last post on the topic.
In all honesty, the morning started off quite hectic. All of us rushed to pack our luggage, and transport it to a holding area. The situation was very much an “every wo/man for him/herself” kind of situation. I ended up showing up a tad late, since I didn’t have the luxury of a car to transport my items.
After that, I entered the conference room as inconspicuously as possible. Luckily for me, people were still mingling casually around the room. A light breakfast array greeted us in the conference room, with basic staples like orange juice, coffee, ice water, bagels, and fresh fruit.
In the conference room, I joined my colleagues in chatting with our guests. Students were free to sit at any table, regardless of team associations. Our business guests were encouraged to disperse themselves evenly throughout the room, with no more than one per table. Eventually, we took our seats and our coaches made introductions on behalf of The Fullbridge Program. We then went around the room and had everyone– coaches, students, and business representatives alike– deliver 30-second elevator pitches. I would post a photo of mine, but I looked super awkward. Oops.
The last day of The Fullbridge Program featured guests from a range of different businesses and companies. This included Intel, American Widow Project, and ID, to name a few. Because the program’s participants number fewer than 30, we were able to engage company representatives in face-to-face conversations.
I was particularly impressed by several students who thought to print out copies of their resume for the conference. One student actually had his own business cards, having acquired them from a previous job or internship experience. I wondered to myself whether such actions were over-the-top audacious or just insanely brilliant– perhaps a little bit of both. I even ventured to pose this question to one of the business reps at my table, only to receive a rather neutral response. “It depends,” I was told. Apparently it worked, because my fellow Scripps colleague and blogger, Daysha, landed an internship position with entertainment company, ID.
The day’s main event featured the presentation of each group’s business pitch, followed by questions from the audience (business reps) and answers from the orators (students). Overall, I think we all performed well; and I know my team felt good about our work.
Later on, students were given the chance to ask questions of the business reps panel sitting at the front of the room. Some people asked about start-ups v. more established businesses, which made sense since both types of companies were in the room. The rest of the day went by rather quickly, and returned back to a sort of casual mingling.
With work over, we relaxed and had a bit of fun. Awards were passed out, speeches made, and then it was time to depart. Since then, my team and I have kept in contact through a viber group chat. Some have come out to Claremont to visit and my friend Katie (pictured below) recently came to visit me while on her last day of spring break. Overall, these two weeks turned out to be a rather productive and exciting winter break. Thanks for reading!
a final pic with Team Podemos 🙂
- my friend, Katie, from Oxy, and me
Claremont Colleges represent at the Fullbridge Program
Click here for more photos by Oxy photographer.