KATIE CLAMAN, TRUMPET GUEST WRITER
The deadline for Orange Connection, a Wartburg career mentoring program, is approaching on Feb. 12. The event will take place April 1820 in Des Moines, Iowa. Students will stay in a hotel on Saturday and stay with an alumni family on Sunday night.
“They spend the weekend down in Des Moines and on Saturday night we do something in Des Moines,” Veronica Reece, career coach and Pathways associate for vocation and mentoring, said. “Last year we went to a really cool show, and then we stayed the night in a hotel. Then on Sunday night we do some stuff in Des Moines just to get to know the area.”
The job shadow aspect of Orange Connection begins with students experiencing a day in the life of a chosen profession on Monday. Through Orange Connection, there are a wide range of job shadowing opportunities available.
“We’ve had someone at the Blank Park Zoo shadowing someone that worked with all of their different monkeys,” Reece said. “We try to find the best fit for that student in the area.” Orange Connection can help a student decide what they want to do after Wartburg by letting students experience a full day experiencing what could become a chosen career.
“I think the cool thing about the program is students come in with ‘I’m thinking specifically social work’ and maybe they’ll come in being iffy about it,” Reece said. “And so they’ll do this job shadow and it’s like they might have this epiphany.” Orange Connection is an experience specific to Wartburg.
The experience is tailored to each student’s specific interests and provides students with the tools needed to excel in a professional setting.
“We really work on resumes before going on the trip because it is really important as a young professional to have a great resume,” Reece said. “It’s something that will make you stand out when applying for jobs, applying for internships and students as part of Orange Connection they work on a resume before we go on the trip.”
The program fee is $50 and will cover the hotel costs. For more information, go to wartburg.edu/pathways or contact Reece at vernonica.reece@ wartburg.edu
Knight Wire 
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