Soaring Together & Seizing Every Opportunity

The Takeaway: “As an IDEAS student who has a concentration in mechanical/aerospace engineering, my biggest hope was to get advice and insight about the aerospace industry, specifically the private sector. I also find space law as an emerging field an interesting career and wanted to explore my options in the field.” 

The Value: “Soaring Together’s strong alum-student program has helped me to make valuable connections with alumni, which I really cherish. When I speak with them about their industry experiences, I get even more inspiration and passion about my intended career field. Having other alums support us would further help passionate and driven students achieve personal success and success for the greater Lehigh community. After meeting with Chris, I now have a better idea of what I want my academic plan to be.”

The Takeaway: “I offered some thoughts on steps she might consider — including coursework and professional opportunities — both to prepare herself and to make herself more marketable for a career in tech/space. I am always impressed at the efforts that current and recent generations of students undertake outside the classroom to investigate the fields in which they want to start their careers.” 

The Value: “Courtney is certainly taking advantage of opportunities to network and learn about the professional world while still in school, even as a freshman. I wish I had taken that kind of initiative when I was a student! The opportunity to support Lehigh in this non-financial way and to (hopefully) directly benefit a student — one who’s made the effort to seek the support — was particularly appealing.”

The Takeaway: “Lynne Davis was so incredibly helpful and gave me invaluable advice regarding course selection, networking, and obtaining internships. She even gave me advice on communicating with co-workers.”

The Value: “I am so grateful for that opportunity as well as others that Soaring Together has provided.”

The Takeaway: “Kristina was a great listener and had a lot to contribute to the conversation. When I heard a little bit about the backstory of her family and her passion as it related to the racecar industry, that correlated a lot to wanting to solve problems. Pursuing something in financial services would be a nice fit for her potential.”

The Value: “I think there are several different paths for alumni support, and the commitment doesn’t need to feel onerous, but it does make you feel good to make an impact no matter how large or small."

The Takeaway: “My main takeaway was that there is so much variety in the field of marketing. I spoke with many of Kerry's co-workers over Zoom and learned about their journeys and how they led them to the positions they are in now. This also showed me that a career path is not always straightforward, which I found interesting and reassuring.”

The Value: “The opportunity to connect with and learn from Lehigh alumni is what makes Lehigh such a great university. It is one thing to sit in class and learn, but it is another thing to sit with someone who took that same class and learn how it applies to their daily work life.”

The Takeaway: “Even though Sean hadn’t taken many marketing classes yet, it was pleasantly surprising how quickly he took to the assignment I gave him. It was interesting to see his critical thinking come out at the end of the day when he presented his outcomes. I enjoyed seeing that there were some things he had really fleshed out and other areas where we discussed where to go next. I set up some informational interviews with other people from my team, and it was great to hear from my coworkers how engaged he was.”

The Value: “While an undergrad at Lehigh, I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do professionally. I thought about being a lawyer, then a journalist. I went in as an art history major to be an art curator. I had a lot of mentors and alumni support while at Lehigh and then navigating the early stages of my career, and I was glad to be in a space now that I was able to offer that perspective for a student. We assume mentorship is really in depth and time consuming, but it's nice that it doesn’t have to be.”

The Takeaway: “I met with Dr. Biggs at the hospital where he works. I shadowed him for a few hours looking at different cardiology studies. We had a great conversation about his time at Lehigh, his path to medical school, his career choice, and cardiology.”

The Value: “It’s helpful as a student to have opportunities to shadow alumni in different fields that might be potential career interests or meet with them for coffee or a meal if they are close to campus. For me personally, I find it beneficial to hear about the education and career paths of alumni as I am navigating my own.”

The Takeaway: “I wanted to show her the other options available within medicine. There are a lot of avenues that I had no idea about as a pre-med. There are a lot of areas to do well in medicine, not just as a physician: patient care, patient management, population health. She is very mature for her age — very knowledgeable and inquisitive. She asked very good questions. I hope I can remain a good resource for her going forward.”

The Value: “There are many opportunities to mentor at higher levels, but this was my first opportunity to mentor at such an early age. For me, one of the most important things was seeing how my mentors carried themselves and approached patient care. It doesn’t take a lot of time, and it’s always good to give back to someone in a similar position.”

The Takeaway: “I really enjoyed hearing about her time at Lehigh as well as her experiences in the workforce. She gave me a better understanding of what would be asked of me if I worked in supply chain management and great advice regarding how to prepare for the future after college.”

The Value: “Prior to meeting with Melissa, I was unaware of how strong the alumni network is at Lehigh. This experience showed me how much alumni care about current students. I really appreciated seeing and hearing that she genuinely wants me to succeed. I'm looking forward to connecting with more alumni in the future!”

The Takeaway: “It was really fun for me to share similar stories about our on-campus experiences and hear about what activities she is involved with on campus! I look forward to keeping in touch with Roisin and hearing about all the amazing things she accomplishes.”

The Value: “Lehigh has given so much to me in terms of mentorship and support throughout the years as a student and as an alum. I really enjoy being able to give back to the current students. Supporting and staying engaged with Lehigh as an alum is a no-brainer for me!”

The Takeaway: “Brenda opened my mind to more career opportunities. I've always been pretty certain that I want to go to medical school, but the two of us also got to talking about our shared interest in creative writing. Because I'm someone with so many different academic interests, it reassured me that I'll be able to apply those skills, namely creativity and passion for justice work, regardless of where I end up working.”

The Value: “I think it's nice to meet people who are associated with different institutions and who are involved in medical-related fields in different capacities so I can be exposed to careers that may not be on my radar.”

The Takeaway: “Clara had great insightful questions I wouldn’t have thought to ask at that stage in my education, like how could there be an intersection for creative writing if she pursued a STEM career? It made me think of the common ground of our Lehigh experiences. My Ph.D. training has been in literature, but I work in a STEM environment at the university.”

The Value: “When I found out the mentorship could be online or in person, I liked that I could support in a smaller way. Soaring Together triggered my memory of meeting other alumnae at Lehigh. As a first gen student, I didn’t understand what alumni were, and groups like BALANCE [Lehigh Black and Latinx Network for Community and Equity] helped me to understand that there were additional resources beyond the folks that I met on campus. This is a great way to get involved as an alum. You can use the hindsight you have to support a student. It’s an easy, exciting, fun way to pay it forward.”

The Takeaway: “One thing Kira mentioned that really stuck with me is how consultants provide assistance in making informed decisions rather than making decisions themselves. They need to ask the right questions and understand why they were hired. There are various fields within consulting, including technical, operational, and strategy consulting, with a suggestion to consider AI.”

The Value: “The opportunity to connect one-on-one with a successful alum like Kira was truly unique and enlightening. Her insights into the consulting field offered me a realistic view of the industry, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges involved. It was particularly valuable to learn about the importance of asking the right questions and truly understanding a problem before attempting to solve it.”

The Takeaway: “Forum has amazing maturity for her age and experience. I had to remind myself how young she was. The level at which she was communicating her questions and engaging in conversation was at the level of people who are graduating. Clearly these scholars are special representatives of the Lehigh student base.”

The Value: “I think it’s tremendous that the Soaring Together program exists and that it's being supported. It's not only this program; there are other programs like BALANCE and other groups that have communities of mentorship and networks. The network part is as important as the mentorship. For alums like me, it is important to bring the energy of each successive generation into our lives by welcoming these young emerging professionals into our network.”