The van Vlissingen Center for Career and Professional Development is currently holding a program entitled Senior Blitz, which aims to discuss life after graduation with seniors, by hosting campus-wide giveaways and other interactive opportunities.

Lee Svete, Director of the van Vlissingen Center, feels that the college’s long-term approach to ensuring their students’ success is unique and something he values at the college.

“We have a lifetime working relationship with our students and alumni,” Svete said. “It’s called ‘Four Plus Forty.’ Four years at Emory & Henry, and a forty year commitment to the community and family of the college.”

The Senior Blitz initiative aims to encourage seniors to visit the Center, and Svete hopes that the program can provide something different for seniors to participate in at the end of the semester.
“The class of ‘21, they’ve been through thirteen months, and counting, of COVID-19. We don’t want April to just be, ‘Buckle down!’,” he explained. “Certainly, finish your classes, your finals, your projects. But, we know there’s a lot of pressure on seniors with graduation, and we just want to connect in this COVID-19 environment.”

One way in which the career center is hoping to get students interested in registering is by entering everyone who fills out an interest form into a giveaway for a 55-inch television during the Senior Blitz event, which is lasting until the end of the school year.

Svete says that student employees in the career center were actually the ones to come up with the ideas of giving away prizes as part of the Senior Blitz programming.

“We have two career assistants and they are tremendous,” Svete said. “They were saying, ‘Let’s do a contest of some kind,’ and ‘can we do some giveaways?’ We did the college majors night and we gave away an iPad, and it was very popular. Right now, we’ve already had 120 total students that have entered the contest. Of that group I think seniors are about half.”

Svete emphasized that although this event is focusing on seniors, students of any year are welcome to participate, and he particularly encourages those who are looking for internships to reach out.

“We don’t want to lose touch with seniors,” Svete said, “and we’ve actually, through this Zoom technology, connected with 78% of the entire student body in some fashion. Not all one on one; some of it is the classes we teach. We just want to reach as many students as we can. Our goal is 100% engagement.”

Any student who wants to get involved with the Senior Blitz program or any other aspect of the Center can email any of the staff listed here. Or, students can schedule an appointment here.