CEAS students devoured more than 500 hotdogs during the 2nd Annual Co-op Cookout, a three-hour opportunity for students, career advisers, and employers to meet informally.
Fred Sitkins, CEAS director of co-operative education, coordinated the event, held on the Parkview Campus front lawn. Post Battle Creek and Parker Aerospace donated the hotdogs and accompaniments respectively.
Sitkins attributed the cookout’s success to the “excellent support” provided by CEAS Career & Student Employment Services staff and administration, and to ASME, NSBE, Tau Beta Pi, and Theta Tau volunteers.
The picnic-style eating fest followed a “Co-op Spring Info Session” by Parker, which offered students an afternoon of information on the company and its employment opportunities. Similar information sessions had been offered by Post Battle Creek, Stryker, and Eaton Galesburg for the three weeks preceding the cookout.
Each week, one company spent one afternoon at the CEAS campus. The company’s representatives set up a table-top display in the Parkview lobby in the early afternoon, accepted resumes and met informally for a couple of hours with students.
Then, at about 4:30 p.m., company reps provided a two-hour presentation highlighting the company’s history, products, processes, innovations, goals, and employment expectations. The presentation ended with a Q and A session.
Sitkins said the weekly spring events had been so enthusiastically received that he plans to continue them this fall in a format similar to this spring’s. About 25 to 45 students are expected to attend each event.
“We’re encouraging business and industry reps to connect with engineering and technology students for potential internships, co-ops, and full-time employment,” Sitkins said.
Employers interested in learning more about the fall session program or in scheduling a fall information session should contact Sitkins at fred.sitkins@wmich.edu or Heather Highhouse, CEAS career advisor, at heather.highhouse@wmich.edu
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