Munch, Mix, and Mingle
Pictured here are Kathy Butler ’74 and Sharon Smithey Coale ’72 offering helpful advice to OWU students. (Photo by Brittany Vickers ’13)
Ohio Wesleyan’s Munch & Mingle is an annual event created by the Alumni Association Board of Directors, with the intent of bringing back to campus, OWU alumni who offer students career advice. This year’s event, scheduled on September 30, during Homecoming & Family Weekend, included 61 students who had pre-registered, and several alumni.
Tables were set up by career fields as students moved toward their chosen spots to share conversation and good food during the lunch hour. A great opportunity for setting up networks that might be helpful after graduation, Munch & Mingle offered students and alumni the opportunity to talk about life in the business world and real-world experiences often encountered.
Madeline Lank ’13, an English and Humanities-Classics major, shares that she attended Munch & Mingle to look at all of the possibilities in her future..
“It’s a good way to start talking with people, to get ideas about career paths, and narrowing down the field,” she says.
OWU alumnus Pat Huber ’62, an economics major, attended his third Munch and Mingle.
“The key word in business these days is networking,” he says, emphasizing the importance of opportunities such as the lunch meeting, which also integrates students into a network of people who once attended Ohio Wesleyan. But additional advice shared by all alumni is about the importance of acquiring practical experience in career fields of interest.
“See if it fits,” says Anne Page ’72, who owned her own film production company before she retired. She wanted to share her experiences and help students who have questions about their futures. “It’s all about your willingness to jump in. Identify and talk with people who have real careers. In today’s business world, having a live network is important.” The last part of advice she offered students was to look at their lives as a whole.
“Make sure to carve out a little time for your dreams. Assess your life every five years and ask yourself, ‘is this the kind of life I want?’ ”