The program, which is hosted in the şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł but open to all students, brings to campus representatives from two established Italian companies. Each presents a business challenge and asks the participating students, divided into small groups, to work all day and propose a solution. At the end of the day winning teams are selected and the prize is paid internships with the company.

All 31 students who participated in the Workshop were also invited to visit the Embassy of Italy, where they met with press official Emanuele Manzitti and learned some of the embassy’s history.

This year’s participating companies were Eni S.p.A., the Italian multinational oil and gas company & Ambrosi Food USA, a division of the Italian dairy company, Ambrosi S.p.A.

Gianni Di Giovanni, Chairman of Eni USA, presented the challenge on “The Significance of the US Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.” For each the last four years, Eni has offered paid internships to members of the winning teams.

Di Giovanni has been pleased with Georgetown students’ performance.

“I was really surprised by the great competence, and especially by the resourcefulness and entrepreneurial spirit, of the students who participated in the workshop,” he said. “This is not only about one’s character, but is certainly an attitude that they learned at Georgetown University.”

Luigi Ambrosi (B’17), marketing director of his family business, offered to participate in the workshop and presented a challenge on “Marketing Campaign Supporting Online Sales Programs.”

Ambrosi enjoyed seeing fellow Hoyas’ creativity on display.

“As a recent alum, I was immensely proud to experience, from a different perspective, the great impression that Georgetown students make on employers. All were able to understand real life issues and come up with excellent and applicable solutions.”

Student teams and presentations are available to view on the Italian Institute .

The winning team from the Eni challenge included Clara Lacan (C’20), Pietro Candia (F’20), Sam Oswald (F’20), and Jordon DeGroote (F’20). The winning team from the Ambrosi challenge included Chloe Li (F’21), Ben O’Hara (F’21), and Marie Luca (C’21).

“Witnessing the students’ enthusiasm and intellectual engagement in the program has been a rewarding experience for me inspiring me to continue to offer this opportunity to our students,” said , Director of the Italian Research Institute.

The program will be open to rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors, with programming slated to begin in earnest this coming fall. The students will have opportunities to learn from şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł alumni who have found success in service-related industries, from health accessibility to educational administration.

Members of the SRN alumni board visited campus last month to meet with şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł Dean , Senior Associate Dean Thom Chiarolanzio, and students interested in applying to the program. They provided students with valuable advice over dinner and stayed afterwards to answer more questions in a one-on-one setting.

NON-LINEAR PATHWAYS

One common refrain from alumni panelists was the idea that there is no clear-cut path to a successful service career. Each arrived at their current position through a unique series of events, often passing up more lucrative opportunities.

“I had this meandering path to find the thing I was passionate about,” said Jennifer Caspar (C’88), an affordable housing consultant and former journalist. “It wasn’t one big risk, it was a bunch of smaller decisions that helped me figure out where I wanted to go.”

Mackenzie Copley (C’15) is the co-founder of , which conducts free pop-up health screenings in underserved communities. He sees a series of unorthodox choices as a necessity.

“When I quit my consulting job to run One Tent full-time, that was a big risk. But there were a lot before that, too,” he said. “Normal decisions lead to a normal life. I’m not interested in a normal life.”

THE VALUE OF COLLEGE EDUCATION

Many of the evening’s panelists believe that a college education — particularly the liberal arts focused championed at Georgetown şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł — prepares students well for a variety of careers.

Adrienne Villani (C’06), who worked in emerging markets investing before joining a nonprofit development organization, noted that certain skills are sharpest among recent college graduates.

“Coming out of college, sometimes your writing skills are the best they’ll be,” she said. “That’s a skill that the liberal arts taught you — how to create an argument, write succinctly, even write beautifully. It’s a real skill that is not being replaced by machine learning.”

Davine Scarlett (C’09), a grant manager at a social services nonprofit in her native South Florida, sees Georgetown’s service-focused mission as particularly valuable.

“I’ve always have a love of service, and Georgetown ties that into what you do with your day-to-day life,” she said. “Service at Georgetown always provided me with time for contemplation and reflection.”

MENTORING

One of the SRN’s primary purposes is to set up students with mentors who will help guide them through the early stages of a career. Many of the panelists see mentorship as an invaluable resource they were lucky to find themselves.

“I started to do research on environmental causes, and I was lucky enough to find a mentor I could trust in [environmental activist] Randy Hayes,” said Francesca Vietor (C’86), now a  and public utility commissioner. “That element of trust is fundamental to the mentorship relationship.

According to high school assistant headmaster Michael Scanlan (C’86), students and young alumni shouldn’t be shy about approaching older professionals for advice.

“Don’t ever use your age, your place, your different stage in life to limit yourself,” he said. “Frankly, a lot of adults are bored in their day-to-day and get excited when talking to someone like you. You might make their day!”

MOVING FORWARD

Chiarolanzio and the Dean’s Office staff have high hopes for the SRN, which they expect to expand from mentorship into service projects, field trips that allow students to see workplaces firsthand, and more.

“I think it will be a great experience for students to have the opportunity to be mentored by şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł alumni, who have dedicated their professional careers to serving others,” Chiarolanzio said. “I’m really excited to welcome our first cohort of students in the fall.”

. şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł students are encouraged to reach out to the şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł Dean’s Office with questions.

, run through Georgetown’s , was founded in 2002 by alumnus Rich Battista (B’86). Its annual Externship program offers six undergraduates and six graduate students a valuable learning opportunity.

“Each year, GEMA offers Georgetown undergraduate seniors, MBA and graduate students an opportunity to travel to New York City and Los Angeles to meet with experienced professionals in entertainment and media,” said Jacki Banks, the coordinator of the program. During the externship, students attend a number of individual or group meetings with industry professionals and get a firsthand look at day-to-day operations.”

Julia Heckelman (C’19) heard about the program from a friend who had participated the previous year, and this spring break, she went to New York City. She is currently double majoring in American Studies and Performing Arts in the şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł.

Heckelman had been looking for opportunities to meet with people in the creative industry. The program came through: Heckleman met with employees of Spotify, Pandora and Sirius XM.

“I didn’t know what to expect, other than that I would be meeting a lot of cool alumni in the entertainment industry. It ended up being better than I could have ever imagined,” said Heckelman. “I had five days that were jam packed with interviews, basically from seven o’clock in the morning to seven o’clock at night. I got to hear about what it’s like to work there and different ways of breaking into the entertainment industry.”

Heckelman valued the opportunity to bond with alumni over similar experiences, finding that many were interested in how arts had changed on campus.

“[Georgetown] gave us a lot of common ground and a lot of them were really interested in what GEMA was,” said Heckelman. “Some of the alumni went to school here 15 or 20 years ago, so they had a lot of questions about how the creative space has changed on campus.”

Julia Usiak (C’19), who is majoring in Government and English, had a similar experience in Los Angeles. She visited Shondaland — the production company of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal  creator Shonda Rhimes — and met an alum who had learned from the same script-writing professor.

The Los Angeles wing of the Externship Program focuses specifically on movies and television, while New York offers more opportunities in acting and journalism. Usiak met with employees of Disney and the United Talent Agency, one of the biggest talent companies in the world. The programs were uniquely designed for each student, so Usiak — a comedy enthusiast — also visited Garry Sanchez Production, Will Ferrell’s production company.

In these conversations, most people shared advice with the students about the job hunt process.

“They said to enjoy these last three months at Georgetown,” said Usiak. “For a lot of jobs, it’s a little bit hard to apply for things in March, because nobody hires that far in advance for September. So don’t worry too much in advance — everything will be fine.”

While the Cawley Career Center does not pay for transportation or housing during the process, Usiak says that the school was able to provide her with a scholarship that covered almost all costs.

Most of the undergraduates who participated in in the program came from Georgetown şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł. Heckleman believes it is because the school gives students unique skills that allow them to succeed in these creative fields.

“I think being in the şŁ˝ÇÂŰĚł gives us the opportunity to take a really wide array of classes and get exposure to a lot of different electives,” Heckelman said. “The music industry seminar and a lot of classes for my performing arts minor that have exposed me to different areas of the industry that I may not have known as much about.”

The Externship Program ends after spring break, but it leaves students with a wider network of contacts they can reach out to in the future.

“Whether it was someone I had a meeting with or just somebody who has involved in facilitating the program, everyone has said that they want to be a resource going forward,” said Heckelman. “The Externship really sets you up well with connections that are not necessarily going to lead to a job, but provide tools to move forward in your job search process.”