On Tuesday, the Future Alumni Association will sponsor a Networking Night to help students by getting them involved with people who have entered the workforce after college. FAA is an organization whose goal is to connect students with alumni and get students more involved on campus so that they would be more willing to come back once they graduate. The Networking Night will last from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in rooms 2201 and 2204 of the Kirkhof Center.

FAA adviser Mindy Earley said Networking Nights are events that focus on a particular major and alumni.

“The idea is that they have an alumni panel from a specific major, they talk for about an hour and then there is about an hour of networking to really connect with the alums that are there and for students to work on their networking skills,” she said

This particular networking event will focus on Business and Health Communications majors. FAA President Kimberly Sander said the majors were chosen because of the members of the FAA and what they were studying at GVSU.

“Our group’s kind of split half and half, half of the members are more business related and half the members are health related,” she said. “We figured we would start with those two majors and then the next time we do it we would pick different majors.”

The panel of alumni will take questions from students and talk about life after GVSU. The alumni will discuss job searching, professional development and what their field of work is like today, among other topics.

Earley said FAA would like to partner with other organizations for future networking events.

FAA Financial Officer Bethany Kensrud said the networking night is important because of the possible relationships that could come out of it.

“Networking is a great tool to build relationships,” she said. “The connections that you make could eventually lead to an internship, a mentor or even a job.”

Sander agreed saying networking is important because of the possible connections and job opportunities available for students within their field of study that events such as these offer.

“I think this is an important one for students because a lot of the times, alumni are willing to help current students get into the field, learn more about the field and help them with potential jobs after they graduate,” she said.

[email protected]