With COVID19 came a revised academic schedule which changed the opportunity for the Ciocca Center to offer workshops during the semester. The new January term over winter break became the opportune time for programming and the Ciocca Center did not disappoint.
Nine workshops during the month of January attracted 125 alumni from around the world and 200+ students from all four class years. Many of the students participated in more than one opportunity as they worked towards Business Certificate Program completion. The virtual program list included everything from Corporate Finance & Banking to Global Supply Chain Management, a Women in Business alumna speaker, and a month-long Excel Tutorial.
From Oregon to South Carolina, Europe, China, and India, alumni and students were able to connect with fellow Crusaders online. This expansion of alumni who might not normally have been able to participate in person increased the wealth of knowledge and expertise within the already robust Holy Cross network. “One perk of the virtual world we are living in” as Connor Fitzgerald ’16 shares after presenting during the Marketing Communications & Sales workshop, “is getting to present to some awesome Holy Cross students all the way from Nashville, TN!” Gathering the Holy Cross network often creates a sense of community, something we are all looking for during times of social distancing.
Of the many workshops, the Ciocca Center in partnership with the Office of Sustainability, offered a new three-week opportunity, the Pothos Project, for students interested in consulting. Fourteen students divided among three teams using a B-Corp assessment provided suggestions for how the Lobby Shop at Holy Cross could be more sustainable. The pilot program included alumni mentors as well as campus partners, an opportunity that integrated Conference Services into the co-curricular programs and provided students with a real-world consulting experience. “What a cool opportunity! I absolutely loved working on this project” shares Katelyn Cody ’22, who goes on to describe the work as having “real-world impact.”
