on campus - Article - Manhattan College

14 manhattan.edu
Opportunities Galore at Career Fair 2005
Draddy Gymnasium was transformed
into a job marketplace that included
booths, banners, brochures, professionals
and students. The offices of career
development and alumni relations hosted
Manhattan College’s annual Career Fair
this past October, where more than 110
companies, universities, law enforcement
divisions and nonprofit agencies gathered
to meet with and speak to interested
students about job opportunities,
internships or co-op positions.
“With such a large number of companies
attending, students had a wide array of
industries to broaden their possibilities for
employment,” says Marjorie Apel, director
of the center for career development.
“How many people get to network with
over 100 companies in one day!”
The Career Fair is an excellent way for
students to meet potential employers,
have their résumés read and reviewed,
arrange for job interviews or realize the
scope of opportunities that await them
after graduation from Manhattan. Pace
University Law and Columbia University
Law, along with other higher education
institutions, were on hand to expound
Student volunteers in one of the ruined homes
they gutted while volunteering in New Orleans.
upon the value of continuing education.
A student could explore the possibility
of a career with the NYPD, Merrill Lynch,
Turner Construction or Con Edison, while
learning more about positions within a
company, protocol, interview etiquette
or proper dress code.
The Career Fair is brought together
through the hard work of those offices
on campus but also through the efforts
of alumni volunteers. Ken Kelly ’54 is
one of the many volunteers who personally
call more than 500 companies to invite
Roseanne Forde, from New York Life Insurance, and Sarah Veitch ’06,
a student in the school of business, meet at the Career Fair in October.
After enjoying the holidays with family,
Manhattan students spent part of their
winter breaks assisting in Hurricane
Katrina relief efforts.
Ten students in January traveled to
New Orleans to volunteer with Operation
Helping Hands, created by the Archdiocese
of New Orleans for Katrina relief. The
students spent seven days gutting
ruined homes and completely stripping
them down to the studs and beams.
More than 100,000 homes in New
Orleans experienced damage from the
hurricane, some worse than others.
“We worked on four houses in seven
days, which doesn’t seem like a lot,
but it’s definitely progress,” says Frank
Gizzo ’03, graduate assistant in campus
ministry and social action and the team
leader of the trip. Like many of the
students that participated in the trip,
Gizzo also was interested in witnessing
the devastation firsthand.
them to participate in the event. The
Alumni Society provided a booth that
offered personalized business cards that
were produced on the spot for current
Manhattan students and added a polished
touch when a student met a potential
employer. Manhattan College is dedicated
to the preparedness of its students, and
the Career Fair is an excellent venue for
them to experience that first contact
with the professional community while
viewing some of the many choices that
lie ahead.
Joining Hands in Katrina Relief
“Block after block for miles and miles
in certain sections of New Orleans, you’d
see garbage piled up, ruined homes, cars
overturned and boats in the middle of the
street,” Gizzo adds. It was a completely
different experience being there in person,
he says, especially after visiting the Ninth
Ward, which suffered the most damage.
“I was awestruck,” Gizzo says.
“Everything is leveled, no exaggeration.
All of the homes are gone. There’s just
debris left.”
Kinah Ventura-Rosas, coordinator in
campus ministry and social action, says
the purpose of these service-learning
trips has always been to encourage the
students to give back to the community
and expose them to different, unique
experiences. In the past, student
volunteers traveled to Honduras, where
they helped build homes in some of
the poorest communities, and to Texas,