About 70 students from Hamilton County high schools met with 40 business professionals at speed-networking event.
Katreya Lewis professes to be shy.
But you wouldn’t know it watching the high school sophomore work the room at a speed-networking event Thursday at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
A student at Tyner Academy and president of her class, Lewis has career plans and wants to go to college.
She moved closer to accomplishing both goals at the high-energy mixer that paired about 70 students from Hamilton County high schools with 40 business professionals from Chattanooga, including faculty and staff from UTC.
“I surround myself with people who are outgoing and that helps me talk to people more,” said Lewis, who aspires to become a speech pathologist or recreational therapist.
Dressed to impress, the students mingled and passed out business cards before entering the musical chairs-esque networking line. The teens moved from one seat to the next for three-minute sessions with each of the stationary professionals.
The students had to shoulder the bulk of the conversation by talking about themselves and asking career-oriented questions for two and a half minutes, with the last 30 seconds reserved for feedback from the professional at hand.
“Students, you are sitting next to business professionals who are working at some of the most prominent companies across our city, Stacy Lightfoot, vice chancellor for diversity and engagement, told the crowd in the Tennessee Room at the University Center.
“So as you experience this and engage with our community leaders and our UTC faculty, we hope that you all see yourselves as part of the fabric of this institution and the economic fabric of Chattanooga.”
The event was co-sponsored by the UTC Office of Equity and Inclusion and the Education Equal Opportunity Group, a nonprofit based in Nashville. EEOG developed the Career Speed Networking Program and works with school districts and companies around the state to create meaningful and positive experiences for students.
The goal, said George Thomas, CEO of the group, is to inspire students and expand their vision of what’s possible for their education, their careers and their future in general.
“EEOG is deliberate and intentional about forging unlikely relationships between successful business leaders from the public sector and the private sector and young people,” Thomas said.
“You cannot be what you cannot see,” he said. “Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not.”
The speed-networking event had a relaxed-but-professional vibe that seemed to put students at ease instead of make them nervous.
“They’ve done their research, that’s for sure,” said participant Charlene Ragland, a recruitment and employment specialist with the UTC Office of Equity and Inclusion.
“One of the things I told them was that even though you might study one thing or enter a certain career, you could end up on a completely different trajectory,” Ragland said.
Matt Johnson, a career and college counselor at Red Bank High School, said most college-bound seniors at his school plan to attend UTC or Chattanooga State Community College.
“For our students, financing college is the biggest hurdle,” he said. “They’re very loan-averse.”
With this in mind, some students go to Chattanooga State first, to take advantage of the free tuition there through the Tennessee Promise Scholarship, and then move on to UTC, considered one of the most affordable public universities in the state, Johnson said.
The Federal Pell Grant Program and the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship are two other major resources for high school students seeking a college degree without taking on debt, he said.
Johnson got a master’s degree in education from UTC in 2013 and said he promotes the University and tells his students to take advantage of all the free “wraparound” services for students, everything from social events to mental health counseling.
For Lee Ann Samuels, a career and college counselor from East Ridge High School, just getting her students to UTC for the speed-networking event was a big deal.
“For many of them, it was their first time on a college campus, which is huge,” she said. “And then to get them thinking about future career while there here is even better.”
