{"id":85383,"date":"2024-03-28T03:00:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T07:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/?p=85383"},"modified":"2024-03-29T12:03:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T16:03:40","slug":"inaugural-stem-mocktail-mixer-helps-students-develop-professional-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/03_28_2024\/inaugural-stem-mocktail-mixer-helps-students-develop-professional-skills","title":{"rendered":"Inaugural STEM Mocktail Mixer Helps Students Develop Professional Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Toledo hosted its inaugural STEM Mocktail Mixer Tuesday, March 26, in the College of Engineering\u2019s Brady Center, an event that left a lasting impact on students pursuing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees.<\/p>\n

The STEM Mocktail Mixer was designed to provide Choose Ohio First (COF) scholars with an environment to cultivate their networking abilities, foster meaningful connections and gain valuable insights into professional etiquette. The COF program is designed to ensure Ohio employers have access to the talent they need to address workforce needs.<\/p>\n

\"The

The University of Toledo hosted its inaugural STEM Mocktail Mixer Tuesday, March 26, in the College of Engineering\u2019s Brady Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIn addition to preparing students with technical training in STEM disciplines such as engineering, mathematics and pharmacy, we also must provide our students with professional skills to meet employer needs, and the mixer is one of the activities we provide our COF scholars to build these skills, which are essential for professional growth and success,\u201d said Dr. Scott Molitor, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.<\/p>\n

The mixer was a strategic opportunity for students to initiate conversations that count, as attendees engaged in purposeful conversations and learned how to navigate professional discussions and scenarios. Students honed their communication skills by discussing research projects, career aspirations, or industry trends.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeeting the others was great,\u201d said Kyle McCord, a freshman studying electrical engineering technology. \u201cI got to meet most of all the other scholars, and it was nice to see their experience with COF.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event emphasized the importance of professional decorum \u2014 from firm handshakes to attire \u2014 and students absorbed valuable etiquette tips that will serve them well in future networking scenarios. And they participated in a mock social environment where they were challenged to introduce themselves to faculty and staff, who were playing the roles of keynote speakers, conference presenters and distinguished researchers. Attendees also collected raffle tickets throughout the evening as they practiced these skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed the sequencing of events that allowed us to apply the information that we were just given,\u201d said Cait Kleinfelter, a junior studying actuarial science. \u201cThis way, we can immediately practice networking and see what we need to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Office of the Provost, Career Services and faculty and staff from the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the College of Engineering collaborated on this successful event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful to the Career Services staff for their participation in this event, which exemplified the impact of intentional outreach and cross-campus collaboration to provide an enriching student experience that was fun, relevant and memorable,\u201d Molitor said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to see this grow, as we plan to make this an annual collaborative event.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"The<\/a>

Tuesday\u2019s event was designed to provide Choose Ohio First scholars an environment to foster networking abilities and professional etiquette.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":85384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,34,39,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85383"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85421,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85383\/revisions\/85421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}