After enjoying a few weeks of relaxation in her hometown of Corvallis, Ore., Ingrid Celis ’28, a prospective French major on the premed track, spent the last weekend of winter break participating in Embark! A First-Year Career Retreat on campus. She and more than 100 of her 2028 classmates attended workshops on basic skills like writing résumés and cover letters and learned introspective, career-building strategies they can use in the future. “Embark made me feel like my goals were more attainable, serving as a reassurance for first-years—especially if we’ve not figured out exactly what we want to do yet,” she says.
Celis says she found Embark’s alumnae panel especially insightful. The first-years learned about the panelists’ various career trajectories and had the opportunity to ask them questions and gain advice. “It was so inspiring hearing about how their careers unfolded,” she says. “It puts things into perspective to know that no one’s path is linear.”
Iliana Flohr ’28, a prospective English and education double major who participated in the program, says Embark offered her a lot of clarity about what to expect in the future and helped her get over her “fear of getting started” on her own career exploration journey. Flohr says before the program she often felt intimidated whenever prospects of internships or job searches were brought up, but during the Embark sessions, “the way they described the process of applying for jobs and following a path was so easy to follow and digest.” Before Embark, participants complete a survey that asks them to highlight their top five strengths, which was expanded upon during a workshop in the program. Flohr says that exercise allowed her to discover what transferable skills she has. “The program emphasized that jobs I get along the way don’t necessarily have to be tied to the field I eventually want to go into,” she says.
It’s important to reflect on and build these skills in a community, not alone, because it can be intimidating.
Embark is designed to “support students at all stages in their career exploration,” says Ariane Baker, Susan L. Wagner ’82 Associate Director and Advisor for Career Exploration for the classes of 2025 and 2027. New students spend a lot of their first semester getting acclimated to the College, making friends, and exploring clubs and extracurricular activities. Once they feel more settled, Baker says, Embark provides them with a good initial point of contact with Career Education: “It really is meant to offer something to everyone, no matter what stage they are in their exploration.”
When crafting the Embark curriculum, Marisa Crowley ’05, Susan L. Wagner ’82 Associate Director and Advisor of Career Exploration for the classes of 2028 and 2026, emphasizes foundational skills and responds to student feedback to ensure the resources Embark provides are timeless. This year’s Embark program included a new session during which students met in person with industry advisors from fields such as international affairs, consulting, and human services. Beginning in the spring semester, all first-years, not just Embark participants, have the opportunity to connect with advisors from specific fields; this session allowed program participants to meet them in advance.
Following Embark, students can take advantage of the many resources Career Education offers, such as workshops, career fairs, and site visits. Additionally, first-years can meet with their advisor for career exploration (ACE), who remains in contact with them from the start of their time at Wellesley until a few months after graduation.
Career Education also offers lifelong career advising to alumnae, a benefit that was touched upon during Embark. “Being able to return to Wellesley 15, 20, 30 years in the future and receive advising is something that is so impactful,” Crowley says.
Embark participants also have the chance to view the list of Short Internship Projects (SHIPs) in March, before it is released to all first-years on April 1. Curated with first-years in mind, SHIPs consist of 60 to 80 hours of virtual, paid summer work. For Celis, having early access to these projects is one of “the highlights affiliated with the program” that inspired her to participate.
For first-years, initial engagement with Career Education can be daunting, which is why Embark is such a good starting point. “It’s important to reflect on and build these skills in a community, not alone, because it can be intimidating,” Crowley says. When figuring out how to prepare for interviews or network, she says, learning alongside 100 peers “goes a long way to contextualize that all participants are in this together.” But no matter what stage of career exploration they are in, she says, the most important thing to do as a first-year is to take steps to begin to feel at home at Wellesley: “That’s the foundation of everything, and career exploration will build up gradually.”