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Amid the challenges and frustrations of the last 18 months, one bright spot has been the ability that Zoom and similar video conferencing apps have given us to interact easily across time zones and continents.

Sarah Slates and Gabrielle Gary used that upside to their advantage when planning a series of Career Conversations this spring for current students and alumni of the GSSWSR. The two—Slates is a career counselor and writing coach at the GSSWSR and Gary is Bryn Mawr’s associate director of affinity programs—have been partnering on programming around careers, mentoring, and networking. “Zoom provided us a great opportunity to expand our offerings,” Gary says. “We’ve been experimenting and bringing in great thought partners.”

Three virtual lunch hours, held in June and July, focused on Staying Connected, Finding Your Way in the Field, and Meaningful Mentorship. While the first served to remind the attendees of the array of BMC resources available to them, the second two events featured panels of Bryn Mawr alumnae/i speaking on the topic at hand and answering questions in what turned out to be lively back-and-forths.

Although pre-pandemic programs had garnered good turnouts, says Slates, “With this shift to virtual, and people no longer needing to travel to be in a specific location, the attendance has been phenomenal.” The recent programs that she and Gary have developed, she says, grew out of feedback from recent alumnae/i who indicated in survey responses that they wanted ways to connect with current students, alums, and Bryn Mawr staff for ongoing support and resources.

Current students are looking for “some insight based on lived experience, from folks who have been through this before,” Slate says.

They also are eager to connect with alumnae/i and with each other. “Something I hear from students a lot is hesitancy around connecting with other folks.” Slate says. “They wonder if they’re being a bother. One of our goals is to normalize it and help them feel less nervous.” It seems to be working, she says. “The chat is very interactive and engaging,”

Alumnae/i, Gary says, are looking for a space that is uniquely focused on social work and where they have an opportunity to network and know that they are not alone in navigating the twists, turns, and pivots of their careers.

For the Finding Your Way conversation, the panelists included a public school social worker (Allison Taite, M.S.S. ’05), the executive director of a nonprofit working in Malawi, Africa (Temwa Wright, M.S.S. ’06), and a clinical social worker (Noa Eagles ’15, M.S.S. ’16). “They were all able to speak wonderfully about their jobs and their successes and failures,” says Gary, “and how each experience helped them get to the next thing or reevaluate their career.”

Slates framed the mentorship discussion around the concept of a “personal board of directors” and encouraged the participants to think about the “go-to” people in their network. Again, the range of panelists was broad and included Lisa Armstrong, M.S.S. ’16, Bryn Mawr’s assistant director of volunteer programs; Sandra Guillory, M.S.S. ’07, an operations director at a homeless services agency; and Lisa Schilansky, M.S.S. ’12, a clinical social worker specializing in older adults and LGBTQ adults.

“While hopefully soon we’ll be able to offer things in person,” Gary says, “I see us continuing to hold these virtual spaces, partly just because it’s more inclusive and the response has been so positive.”

To find out what will be on offer this fall, consult Alumnae/i Connections biweekly e-newsletter or check the alumnae/i section of the College website.