Mac and Say Cheese!
Nathan Ochocinski & Taylor Maultz, Pratt Institute / FirstGen Forward / February 22, 2023
Pratt Institute is filled with creative, ambitious, and outgoing students, being an institute of higher education focused on the arts many of our students find creativity in their everyday lives and thrive around this. As a committee and institute one area that we have found many of our students to be lacking in as they get close to graduation is preparedness in applying for jobs, mainly being able to create effective resumes and cover letters. This semester as a First Gen committee we decided to tread new waters and try an interactive program that would hopefully be engaging and helpful as our students are getting closer to graduation and summer internships.
In the spring, we co-hosted Mac & Say Cheese, a chance for Pratt students to get their resumes reviewed by one of our team members from the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) or a cover letter looked at, along with having the chance to receive a professional headshot and ending the event with stopping by our Mac & Cheese bar.
In review, we had around 50 students stop by the event during the two-hour duration. As a committee, we were thrilled to see many new faces in attendance. We had a great mix of underclass students as well as some graduate student representation that showed. All were very eager with resumes in hand to be able to have them looked at, many students also did not realize that the CCPD was a resource offered on campus. We are excited to see if this event helps similar pop-up events like this to happen where students could drop in, at a common location instead of having to set up an appointment and go to an office.
We, as a committee, also found it very exciting to be able to have many educational moments during the event. One is students not understanding or knowing what a professional headshot would be used for. We were able to explain the benefits of having these for use on professional web pages, LinkedIn, on your email both academic and personal, and just to have on file if an employer asks for one.
We are excited to see if this event helps similar pop-up events like this to happen where students could drop in, at a common location instead of having to set up an appointment and go to an office.
Finally, just to leave your mouth watering, we were able to work with our campus food provider AVI Fresh to be able to provide the mac and cheese bar for our students who showed up. We had the bar set up in a room closed off from the event and passed out tickets either at resume review or headshots and students would have to turn in a ticket before going in to get food, this way we made sure that each student participated in one aspect of the event. Mac and cheese servings were offered in individual containers, followed by toppings that students could add including bacon bits, bread crumbs, goldfish, broccoli, french onions, and more. If you are thinking of doing this event, we would also recommend having a gluten-free pasta option and a no-cheese option to meet any food allergies. Don’t forget to say cheese!
