Winter break is a great time of the year. Typically, we all finish finals and leave campus for a nice month-long break and holidays for the students who celebrate. Many of us see it as the opportunity to relax, eat good food, and spend time with family and high school friends. Many others use the break to participate in the College’s extern program which allows students to spend a few days or a week shadowing an alum in their office to gain insight on different career paths. There are also a lot of students who spend break planning for and beginning their summer internship applications (or thesis prep and job applications for seniors!).

Struffoli is a Christmas Eve tradition. This was my third time making it

This year looked a bit different. I took extensions on some of my finals and continued working a couple days into break. Once I wrapped up all my fall work, the College announced the first day of classes would be pushed back from the already atypical January 29th to the even further away February 12th. I was mostly confused by this – sure extra time to relax, especially in such a stressful year could be nice, but what was I going to do with myself for eight weeks?

I briefly saw some family members outside for Christmas and I was able to spend plenty of time catching up with my sisters. But other than that, this break was nothing like how I thought my junior year winter would be. Being an upperclassman now, I would have had more opportunities for externships and was really looking forward to participating. I also probably would have planned a trip to see my sister in Florida and have seen my friends. Instead, I conducted informational interviews with three alums, attended a career seminar, began internship applications, reminded myself how to crochet, and lost count of how much anime I watched.

At the beginning of January, I participated in a series of workshops at the Women in Public Policy Seminar hosted by the Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN). I was able to attend thanks to the Career and Civic Engagement Center, which paid the registration fee for myself and a few other Bryn Mawr students. Each day was filled with workshops on a variety of public policy career information as well as general professional skillbuilding. We heard from many speakers – advocates, lobbyists, political staffers, interest group staffers, and even a life coach. Many of these speakers told us about their experiences working in politics and policy but they also gave us plenty of lessons on networking and professionalism. They introduced us to the basics of informational interviewing, how to interact in the political realm, and how to put in every effort to be noticed when applying for jobs or internships. I filled multiple pages with notes and as I’ve been working on my internship applications have frequently remembered what I learned during this seminar.

My first real crochet project was this hat! I plan on improving my skills this semester as a de-stressor.

In lieu of the winter break externship program, Career and Civic Engagement matched students with alums who volunteered to be interviewed by us. I was matched with three alums and asked about their experiences in government agencies, departments, campaigns, and interest groups. These interviews not only gave me more information on possible careers, but also introduced me to professional etiquette. Reaching out to the alums, conducting the interviews, and thanking them later for speaking with me were all new practices I had to learn (and was able to use some of the information from the PLEN seminar!). Career and Civic Engagement also prepared a networking guide for all students that participated in these interviews so we could understand what to do through the whole process. They gave us example questions to ask in informational interviews, sample emails for requesting an interview and thanking the person after, and much more. The alums I spoke with were, as usual, incredibly kind and helpful. They willingly shared not only information on their careers but tons of advice on how I could explore different careers, where I could intern for the summer, and answered my questions about grad school. Bryn Mawr alums are definitely one of the best parts of a Bryn Mawr education – we have access to a wonderful network of people that are always eager to help!

I’m going to say that I was working hard in this picture my mom randomly took, definitely not procrastinating on pinterest.

Now that we are well into February, I will be submitting my internship applications very soon. I am probably going to be applying to around a dozen internships for the summer. To get organized as I began my search, I created a spreadsheet of every place I am applying, the specific positions, the requirements, and due dates. This is my third year of internship applications, but it is still such an intense process! Every position has incredibly varying requirements so it is difficult to keep track of them all. The only thing you can be sure of while applying is that everyone wants your resume and a cover letter. Cover letters are definitely the most difficult part. I have always had trouble keeping them focused and to discuss my most relevant skills. Once again, the Career and Civic Engagement Center will be coming to my rescue. Over the next few weeks you will definitely be able to find me working with them constantly as I write and revise my many letters.

My road is nice and quiet, so I can take walks to see the nearby ponds and fields.

I must say, despite how much time I had to both relax and work during our abnormally long break, It does feel good to be back in classes. I have another tough semester coming up, but it is reassuring that I was able to do some really great things during winter break.