The Dartmouth Professional Student Workshop, a three-week program created by four Dartmouth sophomores, is providing over 40 students an opportunity to hone their professional skills this summer.
Karen Doster '11, Turia Lahlou '11, Megan Senn '11 and Jack Wang '11 developed the program after participating in the Rockefeller Center's Civic Skills Training Program, a five-day seminar that takes place in Washington, D.C., and is designed to provide students with necessary professional skills for the workplace. Civic Skills Training is a requirement for Rockefeller Center First-Year Fellows and is strongly recommended for recipients of internship funding, according to Danielle Thompson '97, assistant director for student and public programs and the moderator for DPSW.
Lahlou is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
"The Civic Skills Program really primed us for our internships, and we wanted to create a similar opportunity for students on campus," Wang said.
Workshop topics include resume writing, public speaking, networking and business etiquette. The DPSW will hold six workshops in all, Wang said.
The online application was available to all Dartmouth students on campus during the Summer term, including members of the Classes of 2010 and 2012. Although the program was originally designed for a group of 30 students, the organizers received more applications than they had anticipated and decided to expand the program as a result, Wang said. All 41 applicants were allowed to participate, he said.
"We really didn't want to turn anyone down," Thompson said. "If there's this much interest, our goal is to be able to meet that need."
The application process was valuable despite the fact that no students were eliminated, Thompson said, because it helped program organizers frame discussions during workshops.
Planning for the program began during Fall term 2008, and the coordinators spent Winter term contacting speakers, reserving venues and consulting with Rockefeller Center staff, Wang said.
"It was just a matter of keeping the ball rolling," he said. "Because the project was student-initiated, there was no one pushing us to get things done." Funding for the DPSW was well within the Rockefeller Center's budget, Thompson said. Because the majority of speakers are alumni and staff members from the Dartmouth community, the Center did not need to fund their traveling and living expenses. Anna Post, a visiting featured speaker, was already planning to be in Hanover for a public presentation, Thompson said, further deflating the program's potential cost. Post will present a workshop about business etiquette Tuesday as part of the program's schedule of events.
The timing of DPSW is strategic, Thompson said, because it occurs when sophomores are considering whether or not to participate in corporate recruiting for internships during their junior year.
DPSW will culminate with an internship panel in Collis Commonground on July 16. The panel, which was organized by 2008 First-Year Fellows Sarah Frostenson '11 and Kristen Liu '11, will take place one week before applications are due for fall internship grant funding from the Rockefeller Center, the Dickey Center for International Understanding and the Tucker Foundation.
Frostenson is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
