Sophomore Conference Showcases Perspectives on Liberal Arts Careers, Holds Alumna Keynote

On Friday, Jan. 15, the Center for Careers & Internships (CCI) hosted its second annual sophomore conference. At the event, faculty, staff, alumni and students discussed the value of a Middlebury education, the many paths that College alumni take and the preparation and flexibility gained from pursuing a liberal arts degree. Almost 320 students signed up to attend the events.

The conference, titled “Preparation and Possibilities: On Leading a Liberal Arts Life,” was a coordinated effort between several College offices, including the CCI, the five Commons and the Office of Academic Affairs.

Organizers focused the conference on sophomores in order to complement their newly declared majors, study abroad, summer internships and career planning that accompany sophomore year.

“Research in higher education continues to show effects of the sophomore slump — a time when students have settled into their new lives in college and the emphasis placed on the first-year transition has largely disappeared,” said Peggy Burns, director of the CCI.

“Sophomore year is an exciting, but uniquely challenging year,” she continued. “Students declare a major, they consider their study abroad options and they dig into their extracurricular interests. They do all of this while also balancing their studies. We hope to provide some guidance and address some of these issues through panel discussions and one-on-one conversations.”

Students could attend one of nine panels organized by subject, including literature, the humanities, the social sciences and STEM. Each panel consisted of one faculty monitor and several returning alumni, who spoke about their careers thus far and what they feel their years at the College did for them. Students received a copy of the new “Preparation and Possibilities” series for their newly declared major, a document created for each of Middlebury’s 40 majors, including information about the skills acquired, and the internships and jobs held by students and alumni of that major.

More than 35 alumni from a wide array of industries, and in varying stages of their careers, returned to campus for the weekend. Alumni spoke of their own professional paths, which ranged from attending law school and defending undocumented immigrant children in federal court to running a start-up mead brewery in Winooski, Vt.

Nínive Calegari ’93 delivered the headlining keynote address in Charles A. Dana Auditorium on Friday evening. Calegari is the cofounder and former CEO of 826 National, a nonprofit organization focused on helping young students improve their expository and creative writing skills.

In her address, titled “Wondering How to Make the World a Better Place? Your Liberal Arts Education Will Come in Supremely Handy,” Calegari spoke of her time at Middlebury, recalling several fond — some humorous — memories in front of her audience, which filled the auditorium to capacity. She thanked her adviser, Allison Stanger, professor of international politics and economics, who introduced Calegari on stage, for inspiring her to attend Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and to pursue her current line of work: improving the American education system.

Calegari spoke about her work studying teacher salaries, which she argued are dangerously low. She gave case studies of teachers whom she interviewed who work second and third jobs “just to make ends meet.” She revealed a startling statistic: the average starting teacher’s salary in New York is almost half of what an Uber driver makes in that state.

Calegari tied in her work with the Teacher Salary Project, a nonprofit which she founded and of which she is currently president, aimed at improving the working conditions and increasing the salaries of public school teachers. As part of the project, Calegari produced the 2011 film “American Teacher,” adapted from her novel “Teachers Have It Easy” and narrated by actor Matt Damon. Much like the novel and documentary, her address made a passionate argument for raising average salaries of teachers.

“Teachers are truly the heart and soul of our country, and they should be paid accordingly.” Calegari said. “It is a shame that teacher salaries have not increased proportionately with the spending that schools have devoted per pupil.”

The conference ended on Sunday morning with breakfast roundtable discussions in Atwater Dining Hall. Alumni, sorted by field and industries, talked to students about mission-driven leadership across the nonprofit sector and what it takes to build thriving and effective social enterprises.

According to Burns, Middlebury first-year students named career planning as one of the top five causes of their stress when surveyed after being on campus for only a month.

“Our strategy is to continue creating a career education planning experience that is interwoven throughout all four years,” she said. “We want to encourage independence, exploration and aspiration, and we’re working to engage students earlier. The sophomore conference is a great step in that direction.”