{"id":9840,"date":"2016-02-10T15:49:27","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T15:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/?p=9840"},"modified":"2018-05-08T20:56:36","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T20:56:36","slug":"panther-alumni-week-grows-in-size-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2016\/02\/10\/panther-alumni-week-grows-in-size-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Panther Alumni Week grows in size, impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

When does Miami\u2019s proverbial 3:05 cafecito<\/em> break become an opportunity for a student to sit down and network with an accomplished public relations specialist? During FIU\u2019s annual Panther Alumni Week<\/a>, a highlight of which was a coffee break where students gained valuable incite from advertising and marketing expert Lily Savi\u00f1on \u201910, founder of the Miami-based firm LD Creative.<\/p>\n

Since 2013, hundreds of alumni have returned to FIU to participate in Panther Alumni Week, an opportunity for students to network with and learn from successful graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a student can sit in their classroom and hear directly from a successful alumnus, there is something very special that happens. FIU students are in a position to connect with leaders in their industry and hear from important Panthers in our community,\u201d said Duane Wiles, associate vice president for Alumni Relations & Annual Giving and executive director of the Alumni Association<\/a>. \u201cIn some cases, these connections can even lead to internships and job opportunities for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And in the three years since its inception, PAW has grown from a handful of events and panels to more than 50 events, spanning every college and school in the university for the first time in 2016 and reaching 4000+ students. More than 370 alumni came back to their alma mater to speak to students this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cPAW exists to enhance the respect, trust and impact of FIU locally, nationally and globally,\u201d said Maria Tomaino, associate director for Alumni Career Development, explaining the Alumni Association\u2019s motivation to continually expand the event. \u201cWe needed to create opportunities for alumni to get involved. Beyond the classroom, what else can alumni do to impact students?\u201d<\/p>\n

This year featured a number of first-time networking events, including the Association\u2019s \u201cDining with 12 Panthers\u201d career development series; a practice interview program and resume festival at the Biscayne Bay Campus; an art education graduate alumni exhibition; a virtual meet up for\u00a0connecting with Panthers around the country; a reception for alumni who work for FIU\u00a0and more.<\/p>\n

Another new addition to PAW this year: \u201copen classrooms\u201d to which the entire FIU community was welcome\u00a0to hear\u00a0alumni speak. The idea was to give students a chance to hear from alumni in a variety of fields and professions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a great opportunity for an undecided student to see what its about and learn from an industry expert,\u201d commented Tomaino.<\/p>\n

\"Brazon-DiDuring one open classroom, Honors College<\/a> alumni Norwing Rivas \u201913 and Rafael Brazon-Di Fatta \u201913 spoke to\u00a0freshmen\u00a0about their launching\u00a0a new business in Miami after graduation.<\/p>\n

One obstacle the two faced was overcoming their \u201cbaby faces.\u201d Being young sometimes leads clients to assume they\u2019re inexperienced, but Brazon-Di Fatta said the best way to handle this is to assert an air of professionalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cConfidence is everything,\u201d added Rivas.<\/p>\n

Sebastian Cofino, a junior majoring in information technology who attended several events, including the cafecito<\/em> break, said learning from successful alumni in many different fields has been invaluable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is excellent, because students sometimes take one bad grade for granted and say \u2018Oh I\u2019m going to give up.\u2019 But [the alumni] inspire, and they help to motivate different majors,\u201d Cofino said.<\/p>\n

Alumnus Dwayne Bryant \u201993, a TV personality and international motivational speaker, spoke about his path to success after graduating. For Bryant, PAW is an important opportunity for alumni to give back to FIU by teaching and inspiring students to continue their education and explore their passions in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes students want to see \u2018Is this really the place for me?\u2019 You know, sometimes students have doubts,\u201d Bryant said, \u201cand for me, when they see alumni who are successful, who are doing positive things, it makes them more motivated and encouraged to do better things, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most important advice Cofino learned during Panther Alumni Week: \u201cNever stop. Always keep going, because as long as you keep going and you don\u2019t give up, eventually you\u2019re going to get somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

via FIU News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When does Miami\u2019s proverbial 3:05 cafecito break become an opportunity for a student to sit down and network with an accomplished public relations specialist? During FIU\u2019s annual Panther Alumni Week, a highlight of which was a coffee break where students gained valuable incite from advertising and marketing expert Lily Savi\u00f1on \u201910, founder of the Miami-based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":9841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[381,200],"class_list":["post-9840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-development","tag-newsletter","tag-paw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15093,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9840\/revisions\/15093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}