2008 Woodie Awards
Preparing for Life Beyond Colgate
Jeff Tufts
Issue date: 10/14/05 Section: News
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For some Colgate students, summer is a time of relaxation at the beach, lake or other vacation destination. For others, it is a return home to demeaning jobs that remind students why they are earning a college degree. For students who take advantage of the many opportunities offered through Career Services, it can be a chance to have a unique and exciting work and learning experience.
Junior Veronika Totos, for example, spent this past summer in the Zhongguancun area of Beijing, China.
"[I] was focusing on the connection between the spatial and social structures of the area, particularly on architectural styles, land-use specialization along with average age, education levels and migration of the population," she said.
"The project was a really significant learning experience for me," she added.
"I could get a glimpse into both interdisciplinary research and urban planning policies in a society under transformation."
Totos also emphasized the value of having the opportunity to study the subject first-hand.
"Working in Beijing for over a month, gathering first-hand data through interviews, photographs, maps and visiting rare collections of Beijing libraries is not comparable to doing research from a library desk," she said. "This way I could gain valuable first-hand experience with research beyond the scope of a normal class project."
Totos' experience was made possible by the Arthur Watson Jr. '76 Endowed Fund for Career Planning.
The fund is a permanent endowment fund created to provide financial assistance for Colgate students to aid them in their search for career direction. Other beneficiaries of the fund last summer included senior Derek Johnson, who received funding to participate in an internship with the Chicago Council for Foreign Relations, senior Elizabeth Harbison, who participated in a summer internship for the Shelter and Housing Advocacy Reform Project, and senior Emily Gravett, who attended the Napa Valley Writers' Conference.
Junior Veronika Totos, for example, spent this past summer in the Zhongguancun area of Beijing, China.
"[I] was focusing on the connection between the spatial and social structures of the area, particularly on architectural styles, land-use specialization along with average age, education levels and migration of the population," she said.
"The project was a really significant learning experience for me," she added.
"I could get a glimpse into both interdisciplinary research and urban planning policies in a society under transformation."
Totos also emphasized the value of having the opportunity to study the subject first-hand.
"Working in Beijing for over a month, gathering first-hand data through interviews, photographs, maps and visiting rare collections of Beijing libraries is not comparable to doing research from a library desk," she said. "This way I could gain valuable first-hand experience with research beyond the scope of a normal class project."
Totos' experience was made possible by the Arthur Watson Jr. '76 Endowed Fund for Career Planning.
The fund is a permanent endowment fund created to provide financial assistance for Colgate students to aid them in their search for career direction. Other beneficiaries of the fund last summer included senior Derek Johnson, who received funding to participate in an internship with the Chicago Council for Foreign Relations, senior Elizabeth Harbison, who participated in a summer internship for the Shelter and Housing Advocacy Reform Project, and senior Emily Gravett, who attended the Napa Valley Writers' Conference.