The Skyline College Learning Communities hosted the annual Career Conversations and Exploration Night (sometimes called Career Night) on Thursday, February 27. Approximately 100 students eagerly gathered in Building 6 for a night of career conversations with our 22 guest professionals, followed by dinner and mingling and deeper discussions.
Before the breakout discussions began at 5:30pm, students were able to mingle with each other, panelists and tabling organizations including Skyline College programs and services: Career Counseling, Career Readiness, Early Childhood Education, Promise, Bay Area Entrepreneur Center and panelists’ companies including Parsity, and Flourish.
There were a wide range of fields in these four breakout rooms based on the Skyline College interest areas:
- Arts, Languages & Communication (ALC)
- Business, Entrepreneurship & Management (BEM)
- Science, Technology & Health (STH)
- Society & Education (SE)
Over 100 students enjoyed the interactive and engaging evening together with the career panelists and had the opportunity to mingle with them before and after the panel discussions. Students were invited to select which room they would join based on their academic major or interest area. They were able to review information about the panelists (LinkedIn profiles), via the RSVP form prior to the event. After 75 minutes of Q & A with the panelists in each room, everyone enjoyed dinner together with another chance to mingle and ask follow-up questions. You can learn more about the different speakers by visiting
https://bit.ly/CareerNightBios
Each breakout room featured between four and six professional speakers (some of whom were Skyline College graduates!) and was facilitated by two Skyline College faculty, counseling interns or staff in each room. The facilitation teams artfully weaved together a list of pre curated questions while also providing the opportunity for students to ask their own questions. The Arts, Languages and Communication breakout room was facilitated by Virginia Rosales, Counselor and Kalia Chavez, Job Placement Coordinator. The Business, Entrepreneurship and Management breakout room was facilitated by Nate Nevado, CIPHER Learning Community Coordinator/Counselor and Crystal Afuang, Counseling Intern. The Science, Technology & Health breakout room was facilitated by Laura DeKelaita and Christopher Avalos, Counseling Intern. The Society & Education breakout room was facilitated by Kenny Gonzales, Career Counselor and Ron Chand, Career Readiness Coordinator.
We were delighted to collaborate with The Career Explorers and the Career Readiness Teams, who are available to support students who are undeclared, undecided or exploring as well as students seeking internships or jobs. They can help with self-discovery and exploration through counseling and events/workshops. Students who are exploring are invited to seek support by visiting and completing this short interest form and can meet with staff from the Career Readiness Team by visiting their office or website.
Student attendee feedback was overwhelmingly positive with a chance to provide feedback through a short post-event online feedback form prior to dinner. Students shared some of the following comments with the planning team: “I enjoyed listening to all the panelists and how they got into their careers really opened up my curiosity,” “Very informative, helpful, supportive, caring, humble, knowledgeable, experienced, genuine”, “Today was really lovely in the way everyone was so open and welcoming regarding my questions. I appreciated the open ambience and opportunities to talk more on my career inquiries”, “I love that today’s event began with tabling, then panels, and then dinner to network. I loved that the panel included the various fields of psychology, like social work, program coordinators, and start-up companied”, “I got a lot of inspiration and good information. This was a good decision for me to attend and worth way more than just the extra credit. Thank you!”, “The faculty (and staff) at skyline NEVER fail to create an environment or event that offers education and great opportunities. Thank you!”
This event was generously financially supported by the Puente Learning Community, Skyline College Counseling and Strategic Partnerships & Workforce Development Divisions.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this evening a success! To review photos from the evening, please visit: Career Night 2025 photos.
Article by Marisa Thigpen, Learning Communities Program Services Coordinator and photos by Mia Coo.
