Author: Eleftheria Giannopoulos

Upcoming: Sibs & Kids Weekend

Is your Mason student considering attending Sibs & Kids Weekend? Of course they are! Below is information about the weekend, including who can attend and how to register.

Sibs & Kids Weekend at a glance
Sibs & Kids Weekend is a two-day event designed to provide Mason students with an opportunity to connect with their siblings, cousins, neighbors and friends. Fun activities and events will be held throughout the weekend that allow for siblings and kids to experience life as a Mason Patriot!

Spring 2019 Career Fair

February 20 and 21, 2019 – Mason’s biggest Career Fair for students, alumni, and grad students begins. The Career Fair is a two-day event hosted on the Fairfax campus in Dewberry Hall, located in the Johnson Center. Doors open at 11 am and close at 4 pm each day. Pre-registration is not required and all students are encouraged to attend both days, as each day features many different employers. This event is hosted by University Career Services (UCS).

Thousands of students and more than 200 local, regional, and national employers in a variety of industries are registered to attend, including Fairfax County Government, MITRE, Booz Allen Hamilton, Accenture Federal, Voice of America, Wolf Trap Performing Arts Foundation, Dell, Inc., NSA, NIH and many more. Employers are often represented by Mason alumni.

This year there are more than 40 new employers that are recruiting at Mason for the first. Among them are Amtrak, the US Coast Guard, Matrix Consulting, Penn National Gaming, Sonepar USA, and Meltwater Group just to name a few. The diversity of employers and opportunities at Mason’s biggest Career Fair is unmatched on campus.

University Career Services encourages students to prepare using four simple steps:

Dress in professional attire (for examples see: pinterest.com/masoncareer/workwear)
Research a few attending employers before you speak with them (visit careers.gmu.edu)
Develop a basic “personal pitch” to market your skills and interests to employers (attend Prepare for the Fair Workshop Monday, February 18, at 5:30 pm in SUB I, 3B)
Bring several copies of your resume (attend the two-day Resume Clinic in SUB I, 3400, Monday February 18 from 11 am to 5 pm and Tuesday, February 19 from 1 to 7 p-m).

The first day of the Career Fair, February 20, features employers in STEM industries. The second day, February 21, invites many business, non-technical, and public service employers. Both days, however, will feature a broad mix of employers who are looking for a variety of Mason students.

Students are encouraged to investigate employers to discover if they are offering relevant or interesting opportunities. For example, a student who is interested in graphic design may not necessarily find opportunities with a graphic design company– but they may find opportunities in a nonprofit, engineering, or software development company.

As the world of work continues to evolve, University Career Services is committed to educating and empowering students to build meaningful careers in a global society. They teach students how to explore careers through experiential learning, make connections between their academic and professional experience, and network with alumni and employers. As an office of University Life, Career Services fosters relationships with local and national employers, and collaborates with faculty and campus partners to facilitate career education and preparation.

For more information on the career fair and attending employers, please visit careers.gmu.edu

‘Candid Conversations’ offers respectful dialogue and listening

English Language Institute, CORE students work in a classroom at the English Languge Institure.

George Mason University’s Office of Strategic Diversity Initiatives, a unit of University Life, invites Mason students, faculty and staff to a series of three “Candid Conversations” in which they can discuss current events and controversial topics without facing marginalization for their opinions, values or beliefs.

Topics of discussion will be gun control and gun violence, reproductive rights and abortion, and anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and colonialism.

Read More about “Candid Conversations”

Homecoming Week: Feb. 18-23

College prep program prepares first-generation college-bound students

FAIRFAX, Va. (ABC7) — Freshman college students Marjorie Lopez Morillo and Katherine Chiari are hoping to achieve what their parent’s didn’t.

“Both my parents have attempted to start college but never finished,” Lopez Morillo said.

“My mother actually, she only has a high school diploma,” said Chiari.

Lopez Morillo is enrolled at Northern Virginia Community College and Chiari at George Mason University thanks in part to a program they started in middle school.

It’s not always perfect, but it’s always fun

For George Mason University senior communication major Morgan Smalley, doing improv is about more than creating something out of almost nothing. It has given her more confidence in the classroom.

“One thing that improv has helped me with when it comes to schoolwork is getting the courage to just start,” said Smalley, who is also president of the Mason Improv Association. “Often with essay writing, it can be difficult to get that first sentence on paper. It feels like it has to be perfect. Improv has helped me accept that perfectionism is not always the way to go.”

Students advocate for higher education at Mason Lobbies

Important things are worth getting up early for. That’s why 50 students from George Mason University are excited for Mason Lobbies on Wednesday, Jan. 30, when they’ll board a bus before the sun comes up in Fairfax to meet with their state representatives in Richmond. At the Virginia State Capitol, they’ll promote the university and advocate for student needs, higher education and Mason’s legislative priorities.