By Ashley Cruz—
On a rainy October afternoon in Passaic County Community College members of the Student Government Association and The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society decided to host a career event.
The event named “Career and Transfer,” was open to all Passaic County Community College students to join; it was held from 1-3 pm at the gymnasium, theater and Paterson room.
Although not many students joined only around (25)— they were expecting around (100)—the gymnasium was packed with tables and surrounded by decorations; some snacks and beverages were available for students to treat themselves while talking to the Universities on site.
The purpose of this event was to get students to know their resources and help them to network with four-year colleges they might be thinking of transferring to.
Some of the Universities present on one side of the gym were Ramapo College, Rutgers University, Montclair State University, Stockton University, Rider University and New Jersey Institute of Technology.
On the other side of the gymnasium were different pathways to career majors, including Health Science, Business, Stem & technical studies, Humanities, Media Studies and Performing arts and lastly Education.
Students sitting at the tables socialized with each other and talked about everything surrounding them. Members of the Student Government Association and The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society were wearing red shirts that said “Begin with the end in mind.” They were available if anyone had a question or someone was feeling lost.
Dr. Steven Rose, president of Passaic County Community College, talked about how proud he was and how he saw a lot of new faces. Dr. Rose also thanked the students for hosting this event and how happy he felt about it.
After professors and students finished gathering their thoughts, we were then all led into the theater. While the auditorium began to fill up, the projector was turned on and students started to appear on the screen giving their testimonials and their experiences at Passaic County Community College. The theater was filled with laughs, claps and a great vibe all around.
After the video was over students were directed to open their phones to play some “Kahoot!” Students were given a code to enter the Passaic County Community College trivia. Students began to be competitive to see who got the answer right first in a short time span.
After two rounds of trivia the same student kept winning; she was faster than everyone playing. Students then were told that the last stop would be the Paterson room where the event would come to end.
On everyone’s way out the theater they were given a reusable tote bag as a gift for attending the event.
Deralin Breton, a Human Resources major, and new student at Passaic County College mentioned how “this event was really helpful; I learned a lot of things I didn’t know and speaking to some of the Universities present made me think about my next step once I graduate from here.”
In the Paterson room the event for “New and Returning students’ were greeted with music playing, and tables filled with information about different clubs around the College.
Some of the clubs involved were Astronomy Club, Robotics Club, LGBTQA Club, B2B Club, ASEZ Club and many more.
On the other side of the room there were tables filled with games—“Jenga” was one of the games and also “connect four.”
In the Robotics Club table, they were teaching students who were interested how to function a robot.
A photo stand was also available for students to take a picture with silly accessories including scarfs, hates and glasses. Students were also able to talk to professors who attended the event about their futures.
Students then gathered in a circle and started to dance, A few of the male PTK members decided to dance to “Arabic music.” Students then started to join to do the cupid shuffle, while some students stood on the side too shy to join, others didn’t care and just enjoyed the moment.
Marcia Rodriguez, an Early childhood major here at Passaic County College, expressed how she felt towards this whole event “I loved how happy everyone who attended was, and how much fun I had attending this event with my friends as this was my first event I’ve ever attended.”
After playing a few more songs filling up the room with so much joy, the event had come to an end.
Students left the event with smiles on their faces and filled with lots joy. They all had a great time.