“What should a future employer know about GMC grads?” By Seraphina Mallon-Breiman

Green Mountain College is a place unlike many other structured educational settings. It is a place where many young individuals come to share ideas and defy social norms and create so many new visions for the world and our youth within it. GMC thrives because of a giant community of both students, professors, advisors, and farmers who focus on the individualized nature of instruction and the emphasis on “learning by doing”- which ultimately helps prepare GMC grads to be great problem solvers and collaborative workers.

I think that one of the questions that many young people ask themselves, especially when in a scholastically and emotionally demanding environment like college, is what do you want to do with your life? But nowadays, youth have many more questions that are equally as important to be questioning in our modern day age when thinking about their futures: “How am I going to find a job and support myself while I’m following my passions? How can I promote myself to the countless employers out there? What do I want a future employer to know about me??”

These are all difficult things to constantly be keeping in mind no matter what college or school you may or may not be attending- but from my experience, GMC students offer so many positive qualities for our world that would ultimately make them good workers that I decided to think more about it.

One of the defining charachteristics my mom places on the young people she meets is based off whether or not they look at her in the eyes when they speak to her. For some reason, to her, this is a huge determiner of who someone is and was raised to be. In the same way that this immediate reaction occurs to my mom, I would say that an employer can immediately place judgement on post-grad students they’re thinking of hiring. One of the most fascinating parts of GMC students is their level of engagement with life. Each student is so passionate about their course of action within life that whether their audience was initally interested in the subject or not- they will be soon be by the end of a conversation with the student!

GMC students are willing to sit down and have a conversation with you about any aspect of life- whether they have knoweledge on the subject or not- they are willing to engage with what you have to offer and what they can learn and share. Students are not afraid to engage with people younger or older than them in the world- and they are willing to throw themselves out into the world to try an entirely experience, such as a lesson on white water rafting or ice climbing on a frozen waterfall! They’re willing to read new materials and admit whether or not they had trouble connecting to or understanding the content without feeling stupid or ashamed- which ultimately allows them to engage further in a conversation deciphering it!

GMC students may not have been admitted with the highest SAT scores or the top percentage in their high school class- but they are individuals with some of the greatest levels of curiosity and commitment to engaging positively in every experience life offers. I think THIS is a charachteristic in someone who makes a good worker/employee.