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BY MARY PRAGER

In print | November 1, 2007

For students who are unsure of where they are headed in life or students who are already interested in a career in public service, Career Services will be hosting Public Service Careers Week for the third year in a row from Nov. 5 to Nov. 8. According to the official pamphlet, “Public service work is work that matters, has impact on others, addresses issues of public concern and is motivated more by mission than by money.”

“The purpose of the week is to help students learn about careers in public service, which would be both in non-profit and government sectors,” Assistant Director for Public Service & Internships Marissa Deitch said.

Deitch was responsible for most of the week’s planning.

From public interest lawyers to an engineer in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, graduate school administrators to college alums in public services, representatives from volunteer programs and fellowships to Peace Corps volunteers, a variety of speakers will be available to share their experiences with students.

“We’ve seen a lot of students become aware of opportunities and take advantage of spring opportunities,” Deitch said, noting that the purpose of the week is not to connect students to potential internships.

That, Deitch says, takes place more often in the spring, when students can attend career fairs, which are useful for obtaining internships in the non-profit sector.

As a result of its focus on providing information, Public Service Careers Week is relevant for students of all classes, not just graduating seniors.

According to Deitch, the week can help students think about what they can be doing as underclass students to make themselves more competitive. Likewise, the event can help students clarify their future career interests.

The program is advertised to all classes with the hope that students with a range of interests can come and find something appropriate to their interests.

“It’s kind of got something for everybody,” said Pat Tiedemann ‘08, a member of the Public Service Career Initiatives Committee. "It’s got a lot of events that would be of interest to freshmen, dealing with broadly what is public service and having a career out of that. Also, there are specific panels for upperclassmen, like alumni talking about the tracks they took."

It will also serve to debunk a few myths about public service careers, Tiedemann said. “The idea that you’re never going to make money, financial insecurity, things like that — that it might be a career dead end,” he said.

The Public Service Career Initiatives Committee, which includes students and faculty, worked with Marissa Deitch on planning for the week. “We discussed what students would potentially be interested in hearing or participating in, so out of that we decided whom we wanted to get in touch with,” said Marissa Davis ’08, a career peer advisor and one of five students nominated to be on the committee. Her interest in public service runs deep, having had significant experience serving others in New Orleans.

Davis is in charge of a visual exhibit that will be showcased in Shane Lounge starting Monday. “Here you have a week full of people who’ve graduated from Swarthmore or other places, who’ve finished their undergrad time and now have actual careers,” she said.

In planning the exhibit, Davis and other members of the committee considered how to bring public service to a more tangible and real level of understanding of public service for current students.

The exhibit will feature photos by five or six students who participated in some form of public service work over the summer, as well as a brief description of what they did.

“of public service) is to help a couple folks or a community, but people definitely, out of this week, should understand that public service is far more — it is not as limited as one might think,” Davis said.

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