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Stevenson networking event draws pros together
Lawrence Steingold (left), a member of the Stevenson High School Alumni Association, speaks with Sydney Gorman (center), Class of 2009, and Rivka Clara Stelman (right), Class of 2011, during a Stevenson High School alumni networking night. | Buzz Orr~Sun-
THE SEARCH CONTINUES
• The Stevenson Community Foundation will host a three-hour “college-to-career” night at 6:30 p.m. July 18 in room 2104, and will begin a four-session job search series after that.
• Stevenson High School is compiling recent graduates’ contact information, hoping to pair that with area employers in a job bank.
For more information, contact SHS business liaison Diane Willock at (847) 415-4125 or dwillock@d125.org.
Article Extras
Updated: August 6, 2012 6:07AM
Whether it stems from a heightened spirit of collaboration and community, or a newfound need for help — or, most likely, some of both — Stevenson’s alumni community is drawing closer together with two first-of-its-kind networking efforts.
The Stevenson Community Foundation held its initial professional networking night June 27 at the school, attracting 15 graduate Patriots from multiple generations and career fields back to Lincolnshire. In a separate project, the high school’s business liaison, Diane Willock, is amassing contact information from recent graduates and job postings from area employers, hoping to pair the two in an all-Stevenson job bank.
“We don’t have enough information right now to draw from,” Willock said last week. What has the post-Stevenson experience been like? Are there any commonalities?”
Greg Diethrich, the foundation’s executive director, said his group’s mingling idea came from a recent survey of alumni in which grads of numerous ages reported wanting to make contact with classmates to help in their job searches.
“One of the things that really rose to the top was professional networking,” Diethrich said Friday. “That didn’t surprise us at all. There are a lot of students who are proud to be Stevenson alumni. They understand that the school and other alumni are a good resource for them.”
Willock said her effort grew out of a similar root.
“Some of them have been out in the workforce, and they’re looking for a job,” she said. “They’re wanting any kind of networking help that they can get.”
There are no figures for unemployment or under-employment rates among Stevenson alumni. Diethrich said the foundation wanted to help shrink them, whatever they are.
“We’re just scratching the surface,” he said. “There’s a need there that we’re trying to fill.”
That will include more Foundation-sponsored job assistance, Diethrich said, including a “college-to-career” one-night program on July 18 and a series that will stretch from this summer into the autumn.
Willock said it was a credit to the school that alumni are looking back to it for help.
“It’s a very strong network,” she said. “Maybe if it was another high school, we wouldn’t have people contacting us.”
