Stuyvesant’s First Schoolwide Career Fair

On October 25, Stuyvesant High School hosted the Career and Future Pathways Fair following the junior PSAT/NMSQT half-day schedule. Students had the opportunity to rank their preferred career presentations ahead of time via a Google Form sent out on October 11. During the event, Stuyvesant alumni returned to the building to share insights about their respective career paths. They explained how current students could attain their careers, described necessary educational backgrounds and skills, and answered students’ questions about career development. 

Several weeks before the day of the fair, the Stuyvesant administration individually contacted potential alumni presenters. “There was a Google Form sent out. Once we filled that out, [English teacher Annie] Thoms reached out to us with the schedule and the breakdown of what they expected of us. And then a little bit later, we got [logistical] information. Go through these doors at this time; these students will take you up; make sure to stick around at the end for a goodie bag,” alumnus presenter Jarek Lupinski (‘07) said. 

Alumni volunteered to present so that students could understand the different career options available to them. While many alumni participated in the fair, only Lupinski responded to interview requests. “I wasn’t really going to sign up for the fair. But I’m part of the StuyCS alumni group, and someone mentioned the career fair. One of the things alumni were asked to present was how their personality meshed with their career, and [this alum] specifically said that they felt disadvantaged in their career because their personality made them very perfectionistic about computer science. I’m the exact opposite. I tend to release things first and wait for the feedback to make things more perfect. So I just wanted to make sure there was representation from both sides,” Lupinski said.

Alumni were given broad freedom with what they presented at the fair. “[The school] really wanted us to bring the personal side of who we are and why that may have led us to a certain career or another. Other alumni made their presentations tailored to their specific industry. But I just wanted to personally keep my talk just a bit more general. I didn’t want to pigeonhole anyone into choosing CompSci just because I eventually got into it,” Lupinksi said.

Presenters hoped to teach students life lessons about career building that they learned on their career journeys. For instance, Lupinski told students about how he pivoted from a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering to a career in Computer Science. “Don’t set yourself up for a destiny. Let your knowledge and what you learn throughout your career guide your career. Let your personality guide your choices. Sometimes life circumstances also get in our way, so that kind of flexibility can help navigate some harder times,” Lupinski said. “I also mentioned in both classes how important it is to find a mentor in your first role because they’re the ones who can help you find how to play to your strengths. If everyone shares the same title—say, engineer—what your role on the project is may be very different from someone who’s working with you.” 

Many students came to realize what they might want to pursue in the future, whether that means staying away from or moving closer to certain careers. “During my first event, I came to realize that [the speaker’s] path was something that I would not want to pursue since I feel that it is something that would stress me out,” sophomore Ramona Weinstein said. “He talked about his career not having routine intervals of work, and sometimes he has very big projects to work on and other times not much to do. Personally I feel as if that kind of lifestyle isn’t for me and I’m glad this guy made me realize that.” 

Presenters also helped students understand their prospective careers by providing more information to help students decide what they want to do in life. “For any questions students asked, the presenters provided a lot of detail in explaining. They helped me see more details about jobs and careers in their respective specializations,” sophomore Audrey Hu said.

This Career Fair was the largest career fair Stuyvesant has organized. “Stuyvesant has held career fairs on a much smaller scale in the past, both in-person and virtually; however, this was the first one during the school day, school-wide,” Director of Family Engagement Dina Ingram said.  

Hosting the event during a half-day made it more convenient for students, who could attend without needing to adjust their schedules for an after-school meeting or Zoom call, as was the case with previous career fairs. “We intended for the junior class to benefit from some of the strongest and most diversified fields of presenters,” Ingram said. “We took feedback from students on extending a panel discussion’s Q&A session more for the next time and will consider further suggestions and comments, since we are hopefully planning to do this event again.”

The Career and Future Pathways Fair offered students a chance to learn from alumni about potential careers and about their Stuyvesant experiences. “I would have loved to have a career day when I was in Stuyvesant. Hopefully this not only inspires and encourages students; hopefully it saves you all some time but also lets other alumni know that Stuyvesant is being more proactive about looping in people who make the most of the fruit it gave to us,” Lupinski said.