This past Friday, the Heller Development and Alumni Relations, Career Development Center, and the Office of Admissions co-sponsored a night of networking for current students, alumni, and faculty. This event was a great time to get to know faculty from other programs, meet past students and connect with current students that you have just met or have been working with throughout the semester.
The event was hosted at the Mighty Squirrel in Waltham which has a great social energy and setting to chat with friends while sharing an adult beverage, and there was some great food! I reached out to a couple of alumni that I met during my first year and was able to catch up with them at this event. There were numerous alumni at this event, some from my program, and others from different programs. I was able to chat with some other alumni who were great to meet and discuss current jobs and Heller experiences. I was able to chat with some current students in the MPP and COEX programs who I otherwise would only see in passing. I think other students who attending this event would share in my sentiment that this event turned into a great success for bonding with current Heller students and to meet and talk with alumni that otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to meet.
This event was also a great time to get to connect with faculty, both those that you currently work or learn from or those that you have not yet met. I found this to be a useful time to meet some new professors that I may want to take classes within the spring as well as learn about the research and external work that these professors do. This session also allowed me to get to know some of the professors I took classes with last year on a more personal level.
This is just one example of the ways that the Heller school helps students, current and past, stay connected with each other and find opportunities, in both personal and professional matters. I hope that this event is the first of many as it will be great to continue to develop the Heller community, past and present. If you were unable to attend, I highly recommend trying to attend a future networking event. I also hope that in this future, this type of event could serve as a great way for local admitted students to get to know their upcoming cohort, current students, and alumni to see what a great community Heller offers.