Annual Summer workshops

Every year our incoming class of scholars must attend at least two out of three workshops coordinated by Pursue Scholars. The purpose of these workshops is to help new scholars adjust and prepare for their first year of college. For these workshops, we aim to focus on three crucial concepts in life; professionalism, financial literacy, and spiritual development. 

The first workshop was held on July 11th by one of our board members and the CEO of Pivotal Impact, Candace Washington. Candace focused her PowerPoint on navigating poise and professionalism in college. She first began to ask scholars what is their brand. And how do they stay authentic to their values? She then moved along to discuss how to dress for success and by showing examples of suggested clothing items for future interviews. She then wrapped up the workshop by discussing email etiquette when it comes to communicating with professors and Pursue staff. She had scholars break into pairs to send her a test email based on the scenario she gave them, so everyone could give feedback and suggestions for each group’s emails. “My favorite workshop was the professional etiquette workshop because it’s just a reminder of email etiquette and learning how to dress up for an interview was great,” said Fatamah Muhammad, an incoming freshman at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The second workshop was held on July 18th by another one of our board members, and the Director of Accounting at Lawndale Christian Health Center, Jeff Nelson. The workshop he facilitated was about financial literacy and being financially responsible. This workshop started with a conversation with scholars to envision themselves at 22, 32, or 52 and where they see themselves in those later years. Jeff then proceeds to discuss loan debt and how scholars can use a loan calculator to know how much they will have to pay after college. Jeff also mentions that scholars should calculate how much they need to earn and how much they will have to pay back if they take out a certain amount of loans. “ A lot of students don’t know what they are getting into and exposing us to the many problems that come with loans and federal aid is very helpful,” said Xavier Ortiz, an incoming freshman at Trinity College-Connecticut. To wrap up the workshop, Jeff's final words of encouragement for scholars is to count the cost, learn about aid, and talk to career counselors.

Our final workshop was held on July 25th and focused on spiritual and emotional well-being. This workshop was facilitated by Jordan DeVeaux, a spiritual care intern at Lawndale Christian Health Center. Jordan created an interactive playbook PowerPoint for scholars to follow along with learning how to manage their spirituality in college. She talks through four different stages of how to work on spiritual development by training, accepting, believing, and nourishing scholars' spiritual growth. She discusses transparency about making mistakes and cultivating a personal relationship with God. “My favorite one was the spiritual wellness because it’s true, we all go through different [things] in life and I know college is a new phase, so [spirituality] is something important,” said Luis Flores, an incoming freshman at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights.