Launched at the start of first block, the new Pathways: The Cornell College Sophomore Year Experience program offers Cornell sophomores multiple opportunities to effectively and intentionally prepare for their remaining years at Cornell and beyond. Led by an experienced team of students and staff, Pathways helps students by connecting them to resources to explore majors and careers, and to network with Cornell faculty and alumni.
 The Pathways program is coordinated by the Sophomore Experience Team. Team members include four former Peer Advocates and a staff member with a strong interest in helping sophomores transition effectively into their next phase of life at Cornell. Ashleigh Beckmann ’08, Garrett Feddersen ’08, Heather Fransen ’09, and Antonia Krupicka ’08 are the core of the Sophomore Experience Team. RJ Holmes ’99, Director of Career Engagement Programs, is the program’s staff coordinator.
“We've all put a lot of hard work into the program,” said Feddersen. “It is a fantastic opportunity for us to share with the sophomores a lot of information that we wish we would've had.”
Fall events hosted by Pathways include the Sophomore Welcome Back, the Pathways Dinner Series, and the Sophomore Summit.
 Earlier this block, the Pathways program officially kicked off the year with the Sophomore Welcome Back on the Orange Carpet. Sophomores took a quick career interest survey, signed up for one of the Pathways Dinner Series events, met the Sophomore Experience Team, and learned more about the opportunities offered by the Pathways program.
Replacing the Sophomore Class Dinner held in the spring, the Pathways Dinner Series enables sophomores four distinct opportunities to connect with potential career paths and majors. Each dinner focuses on a specific theme and features an alumni panel sharing their insights into career options related to the theme. Cornell faculty members are also on hand to discuss how Cornell’s curriculum can prepare students for careers with the program theme.
“The Pathways Dinner Series will be set up for students to take advantage of the experiences alumni have had and suggestions professors can share to help sophomores explore the variety of career paths available to them,” Fransen, coordinator of the Pathways Dinner Series said, “plus, the dinner will be pretty great too!”
 Dinner themes this fall include Health Professions and Scientific Research on September 12; Government, Business and Technology on October 10; Helping Professions and Social Science Careers on November 7; and Creative Arts and Humanities on December 5. Sophomores may sign up for a dinner by emailing Heather Fransen directly.
The final fall event sponsored by the Pathways program is the inaugural Sophomore Summit. The Summit will be a conference-style event on Saturday, December 1 and will feature workshops where students can network with faculty, staff, and alumni who will aide the students in developing action plans to help achieve career goals. Antonia Krupicka is overseeing this event and is enthusiastic about the workshops.
“The Sophomore Summit should prove to be fun and engaging as well as providing loads of information for sophomores and hopefully make the important decision of choosing major/s much less stressful,” Krupicka said.
By participating in Pathways programming, Sophomores will have a smoother transition into their sophomore year, connect with resources to make informed decisions about their academic and career plans, and develop skills that will benefit them long after graduation from the Hilltop in 2010.
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