On February 7 2022, Penn State Global Alumni Engagement hosted our third biweekly meeting in Spring 2022. The purposes of the meeting were to kick-start our first group presentations led by Group 1 and Group 2. The themes of the presentations were “Tips on Connecting with Alumni” and also “Expand Horizons through Intercultural Engagement”. The meeting was held at Room 410 Boucke Building from 4.30p.m. to 6.30p.m. and 33 members were present.
The meeting began with an ice-breaker activity led by Afiqah and Alisia. Each member was given a piece of paper and they were asked to draw something that represents themselves. Later, their partner had to guess the drawings and they also had to share the stories behind the picture. Laughter erupted across the room as attempts were made to guess the picture. The activity was simple yet we all learned something new about each other on that moment.
We later moved on to our second agenda where each group leaders had to give an update on their group’s progress. Overall, everyone seemed to cooperate and respond very well to each other. The meeting was continued with a panel session to the Top 7 SAGA members who were able to reach out to their alumni the most. Panelists include Yunqi, Alisia, Asma, Filipp, Ziyang, Beibei and Lavena. Dr. Anna began a brief session for them to share their advice and tips on how they were able to reach out to their alumni. Some of the experiences shared were as below:
“I personally enjoy networking with people. Though it started off as an interview, I enjoy connecting with them.”
-Filipp-
“I used the email list that Dr. Anna sent me and searched them through LinkedIn.”
-Asma-
Dr. Anna concluded the discussion by mentioning how getting involved with other alumni who used to be club leaders can actually make contacting with alumni easier. Many of our SAGA members are club leaders, so SAGA/club leaders can utilize their leadership roles in a club to reach out to alumni club leaders and invite our alumni to be featured on our blog’s Global Alumni Spotlight column. This will be beneficial for both parties as the student can network for career development while the alumni can also post spotlight articles to highlight their achievements on professional channels such as LinkedIn.
Our discussion was followed by group presentations by Group 1 and Group 2. They had done an excellent job in delivering the assigned tasks. Eden and Ronnie (Group 1) had shared useful tips on contacting alumni. Eden even shared that she was offered 2 internships during her interviews with alumni she contacted/interviewed. The tips that they shared had definitely helped her in various ways, both academically and professionally. Group 2, which was led by Filipp, had also worked hard on preparing the slides. They had chosen Global Holiday Celebrations as their theme and each of the group members presented their own national holiday.
The next agenda of the meeting was for the SAGA updates. Afiqah briefly promoted SAGA’s Instagram page while Alisia reminded each group to send her the alumni information so that they can be featured on the Global Alumni Spotlight. Jeff also gave an update on WeChat status. Dr. Anna then reminded SAGA to register for the upcoming Global Career Workshop which will be held on Feb. 25 2022. The registration link is https://forms.office.com/r/bvWzmVCRs5
The last discussion in the meeting was about a reminder of the important dates which is included below:
-
- Biweekly meetings
- Next Meeting: Monday, February 21, 2022, 4.30-6.00pm (Group 2 &3 will present)
- Other: March 21; April 4 & 18
- Global Career Workshop
- February 25, 3.00-5.00pm
- SAGA Award Ceremony
- Thursday, April 28, 11.30am-1.30pm in HUB Heritage Hall
- Biweekly meetings
Before we ended our meeting, Hamza led our “Expand Horizons” motto cheers. We then took a group photo and we all ate the provided dinner from Domino’s. The meeting was adjourned at 6.00pm. Overall, the meeting went as well as expected.
Recorded Zoom : https://psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/Xingjian+Zhao%27s+Personal+Meeting+Room/1_23o7lo1u
Expand Horizons!
Author: Afiqah Razak