Events and Activities
Events listed below are suggestions for reflection. However, we certainly have not thought of everything that constitutes a meaningful exercise and experience. If you have an activity that you believe has added to your understanding of valuing the things you do or future goals, please submit that under the appropriate category.
What Matters and Why Dinners - 20 points
The event, in and of itself, is a reflection exercise. You will receive 20 points for just attending.
What Matters and Why Faculty/Staff Conversations - 20 points
- Set up a time to have a discussion with any faculty or staff and ask them what matters to them.
- What did you think that you were going to do for a career when you were in college?
- What are your passions (how do you lose track of time)?
- If there were no restrictions of time, money, or location, what would you do for a career?
Academic Course Reflection - 100 points
- We believe that you can find value and meaning in any course and in any field of study. You can earn points toward completion of the Pathfinder Program by reflecting on a course you are taking. Reflections on study abroad experiences are also welcome.
- If you think that a course you are taking relates to the themes of PathFinder (life calling, purposeful work), then submit a reflection. You did the work in the course, now think about a broader meaning from the course and how it relates or can be connected to another course. Reflection submissions should communicate how the course has helped you understand passions and meaning in your life. It should also exemplify the spirit of a liberal arts education by connecting what you learned in one course to others that you have taken.
- Any course can qualify for points.
First Year Experience (FYE) - 100 points
- FYE courses are designed to benefit students throughout their college experience and beyond. Therefore, reflections for FYE can be written at anytime during your years at Albion.
Mentoring Reflection - 100 points total for 4 mentoring meetings
- What better way to start building professional relationships than through a mentoring program? Through the PathFinder Program you can be connected with a faculty member or staff. In this part of the program, you are required to meet with your mentor four times throughout an academic semester and provide one reflection for each meeting.
- Come into the Career and Internship Center and you will be matched with an on-campus mentor to assist you in an area that you wish to improve upon. Visit our Mentoring page for more information.
You can also connect with Alumni to network and learn about career-related information. Think about connecting to hone in your interviewing skills, polish your resume, find out what you need to prepare for a career, get information on applications, or learn about a career.
FURSCA/Elkin Isaac Reflection/Thesis - 70 points
- FURSCA is an incredible opportunity to investigate, interpret, and present. This experience will expose you to real life problems and will lead to a better understanding about your interests in the field and methods of exploration.
- How did your experience help you to either confirm or rethink your life and career goals?
- What did you learn about yourself going through the research and writing process?
- Can you see yourself doing the kind of work that you participated in while in FURSCA?
- How was this experience meaningful to you?
- How will this experience benefit your community, country, and world?
Internship Experience Reflection - 100 points
- Working in a professional environment has immense value and we want to hear how it has impacted your life. We know that you learned about your chosen profession, but tell us what you learned about yourself through this experience.
- Did you learn that you:
- love working with people?
- want to give back to society?
- want to work in a big/small city?
- love to be a problem-solver?
- are totally confused now because you thought you would have loved your internship but didn’t?
Leadership/Sporting/Campus Group Participation Reflection - 20 points
- Albion College students are involved in no small amount of beneficial activities that lead to out-of-classroom learning. In these submissions, you are to reflect on your experience and think about a deeper meaning. You are not being asked to do more, just learn more about what you are already doing or have done.
- How did the experiences in this experience help me to either confirm or rethink my life and career goals?
- What impact do I wish to have in the future? How can I use my academic major to make a difference in society?
- How will I know that I’ve had a meaningful or purposeful role in society?
- What counts as success in my community, my country, and my world?
Service Experience Reflection - 20 points
- Albion College students participate in a vast array of community service experiences. For these reflections, you are being asked to spend some time thinking about what you have learned from your experiences.
- What are the ethical dimensions of the experience as you observed it in the location of your service experience?
- What needs to be changed (and who needs to lead this change) to make the situation better?
- What different cultural perspectives were at play in this context?
- How will you be better leader in the future because you have learned more about yourself?
- What can one person do in the face of complex and multi-layered societal issues?
Presentation Option - additional 50 points to any activity
- While most of these options are in essay format, you can really rack up points by choosing to do a presentation on your experience. Even just attending a presentation will earn you 10 points! Email the Career and Internship Center to schedule a date and time. Plan on a 15 minute presentation.
- Provide a basic overview of your experience.
- Why did you think that this would be a meaningful experience prior to completing it?
- Was it as meaningful as you thought?
- What did you learn about yourself and what you values?
- How will you contribute to this area in your future?
Activity/Meeting/Presentation Reflection - 20 points
- Albion College offers a plethora of speakers and events to attend that would count for points.
- These are some ideas about what these might include:
- Smooth Transitions meetings
- Lunch meeting sponsored by the Chaplain’s Office
- Speaker presenting on an important current topic
- Employer information meeting
- Graduate school information meeting
- FURSCA Presentation (attended not presented). Presenting will earn more points and is a separate category
- Elkin Isaac Presentation (attended not presented). Presenting will earn more points and is a separate category
- Tutoring at a local school (must be at least four separate tutoring sessions)
- Career Vision Trip
- Connecting with an alumni mentor through Mentor Albion