There are countless scholarships, fellowships, prizes, and grants for people who are already good at things to become even better at those same things. The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is not one of them. On the contrary, the Watson Fellowship provides the license to spend an entire year in unfamiliar places with complete strangers making mistakes and being bad at things.

Last year, the Career Center launched an initiative for sophomores aimed at assisting them with career exploration and decision making by offering the opportunity to “shadow” (observe) a Hamilton alumnus/a or parent in the workplace for a day or part of a day. HamiltonExplore gives students the chance to see what a professional in a selected field does on a typical workday. By observing the nature of the work first-hand and asking questions of the sponsor, students can acquire insight into a career field and determine the suitability of that career.

I never would have thought that what ended up landing me my first job would be a guinea pig on a skateboard, but I guess a lot of the time you can't predict what's going to happen with life after Hamilton.

A carefully organized and well-worded resume shows your employer that you are a serious applicant who is well-qualified for the job. However, creating a resume isn’t as simple as listing all of your awards and activities.

Thanks to the generous support of young alumni, Hamilton is pleased to name Athina Chartelain ’13 of Brooklyn, N.Y. as its 37th GOLD Scholar.

Members of the Hamilton College community see tangible development on campus every day, especially, this year, while walking past the future site of the Wellin Museum of Art. Students with an ear to the ground may also witness steady internal rebuilding of campus institutions like the Career Center. This year, Career Center leaders are in the process of planning steps for the Center to become “best in class.” As one of their measures, they hope to expand the role of peer advisors.