Rice + Virtual Career Panel
January 3rd, 2012 | Published in Google Student Blog
Introduction: Veronica Rae Saron is a Google Student Ambassador at Rice University. In this four-part blog series, Rice+, Veronica will share about the various creative ways that the Rice community is using Google+ to enhance their world.
The best part about being a Google Student Ambassador is that if you have ideas about a new way to use a Google product, you can immediately take action. From flashmobs at University of Wisconsin at Madison to an entire school holiday honoring Google+ at DePauw University, we ambassadors have had the unbelievable opportunity to capitalize upon the exciting technology that is Google+.
In November, I coordinated a virtual career panel for Teach for America (TFA) using Google+ Hangouts, the 10 way video-conference feature offered at no charge. TFA is one of the most popular national nonprofits for undergrads to join after graduation. Last year it received over 46,000 applications and only accepted around 10% of their applicants! However, a lot of students wonder not only about the teaching experience itself, but what sorts of career paths the corps members decide to take after they’re done with TFA. Do you continue to work toward bettering education in society? Do you work in the private sector in consulting, or maybe even in education technology with a large company like Google?
Using a projected screen with an active Hangout, interested students attended a virtual panel featuring TFA former corps members across the country who, after their time with TFA, have taken on diverse career paths:
I worked with Google, TFA recruiter Sandra Nunez, TFA student ambassador Audra Herrara, and Rukayat Giwa, a former Google intern at UC Berkeley to put on the event. We were able to have two audiences in lecture halls at Rice and at UC Berkeley. Each lecture hall had a projection of the panel for the audiences and a computer with a webcam so that the audience could ask the panelists questions. The event was wildly successful, with many students in attendance commenting afterward that they had learned something new.
“As a student interested in education reform, this event was incredibly informative,” said Alex Pena, a junior political studies major at Rice. “It was interesting to listen to how the corps members’ related with each other a lot based on their experiences, and how TFA was clearly a transformative experience in their lives.”
“Google Hangouts was the catalyst that allowed us to see these panelists’ shared passion,” declared Liz Jackson, a senior math major, “The panelists’ different locations across the country presented a wider variety of viewpoints and life experiences.”
Sandra Nunez, Rice Univeristy’s TFA recruiter, also had positive comments regarding the event:
“I’ve been a campus recruiter for two years now, and we’ve never done anything like this before. Teach For America produces bright leaders who can go into a variety of professions after their time in the classroom, and hearing from our friends at Google and elsewhere really demonstrated that.”
The panelists’ passion for bettering America’s education was clear throughout the dialogue, and the opportunity to witness such a discourse would not have been available for the Rice and UC Berkeley students if it were not for Google+’s incredible ability to connect people. After all, the panelists were located across three different time zones, and yet they were able to speak from the comfort of their own homes!
Do you have ideas about how Hangouts can revolutionize the college events or recruiting efforts for organizations? Let us know in the comments below!
Posted by Veronica Rae Saron, Google Student Ambassador
Extra special thanks to Tia Lendo, Rukayat Giwa, Sandra Nunez of TFA, Audra Herrera (Rice Class of 2012 and Rice TFA Ambassador), the Rice Academ Society, and our fantastic panelists for helping to make this event take place!
The best part about being a Google Student Ambassador is that if you have ideas about a new way to use a Google product, you can immediately take action. From flashmobs at University of Wisconsin at Madison to an entire school holiday honoring Google+ at DePauw University, we ambassadors have had the unbelievable opportunity to capitalize upon the exciting technology that is Google+.
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| Julia Stiglitz speaks about her TFA experience from Google's Mountain View office. |
Using a projected screen with an active Hangout, interested students attended a virtual panel featuring TFA former corps members across the country who, after their time with TFA, have taken on diverse career paths:
- Ann Best, 1996 Houston Corps Member, TFA, Chief Human Resources Officer, Houston Independent School District
- Tia Lendo, 2000 Eastern North Carolina Corps Member, Worked at: Teach First, McKinsey & Company, Google
- Robert Lundin, 2000 Houston Corps Member, Worked at: YES College Prep School, Teach for America
- Rich Crandall, 2004 Bay Area Corps Member, Worked at: Stanford Design School
- Julia Stiglitz, 2004 Bay Area Corps Member, Worked at: Teach For America, Google
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| The flier that we put up around Rice's campus to advertise the virtual panel. |
“As a student interested in education reform, this event was incredibly informative,” said Alex Pena, a junior political studies major at Rice. “It was interesting to listen to how the corps members’ related with each other a lot based on their experiences, and how TFA was clearly a transformative experience in their lives.”
“Google Hangouts was the catalyst that allowed us to see these panelists’ shared passion,” declared Liz Jackson, a senior math major, “The panelists’ different locations across the country presented a wider variety of viewpoints and life experiences.”
Sandra Nunez, Rice Univeristy’s TFA recruiter, also had positive comments regarding the event:
“I’ve been a campus recruiter for two years now, and we’ve never done anything like this before. Teach For America produces bright leaders who can go into a variety of professions after their time in the classroom, and hearing from our friends at Google and elsewhere really demonstrated that.”
The panelists’ passion for bettering America’s education was clear throughout the dialogue, and the opportunity to witness such a discourse would not have been available for the Rice and UC Berkeley students if it were not for Google+’s incredible ability to connect people. After all, the panelists were located across three different time zones, and yet they were able to speak from the comfort of their own homes!
Do you have ideas about how Hangouts can revolutionize the college events or recruiting efforts for organizations? Let us know in the comments below!
Posted by Veronica Rae Saron, Google Student Ambassador
Extra special thanks to Tia Lendo, Rukayat Giwa, Sandra Nunez of TFA, Audra Herrera (Rice Class of 2012 and Rice TFA Ambassador), the Rice Academ Society, and our fantastic panelists for helping to make this event take place!