Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Courtesy [Click to enlarge]

All it takes is a to drive by any gas station to realize prices everywhere are going up. For many women it seems that, now more than ever, getting a job right out of college is ideal.

Making an important contact can mean taking the first step in a dream career, or spending another three years as a barista working off those student loans.

Sacramento State is hosting an event that aims to help female students make important contacts and help them take the first steps in reaching their professional goals.

Women Mentoring Women is a free event this Friday at 8:30 held in the University Union. The event matches up students with professional women from the campus community as well as the surrounding community, many of whom are Sac State alumnae.

Gloria Gonzales, committee chair, helped organize the Women Mentoring Women event and said that last year about 150 students attended. Gonzales said she believes this event is a powerful tool for women to have and is hoping for an even larger turnout this year.

Students can register for the event online. They are paired up with a mentor: someone who is a professional in the desired field the student is interested in. The event is focused on establishing relationships with mentors.

Students are encouraged to ask their mentors as many questions as they have, and establish a relationship for continued communication.

"It's great to have a group of women united together," Gonzales said. "It is always very empowering."

Besides making contacts, there will be several workshops available that students can attend. Workshops that address issues concerning women's heath and on developing leadership skills are just two of the five workshops the event will be hosting.

Alycia Tornetta, junior English literature major, currently works at the Best Buy on Arden Way. She said she enjoys her job, but after she graduates she wants to pursue a career in publishing. Her ideal job is to work as an editor publishing works of fiction.

Tornetta said she plans on attending this year's Women Mentoring Women event and hopes there is someone there who can answer questions she has about the publishing industry.

Although she has never had a mentor, Tornetta said she thinks the event is a great idea and hopes to meet women who can give her some advice on her career ambition.

"It would be nice to meet people in publishing, especially since it is a connection-based profession," she said.

The theme for this year's Women Mentoring Women event is "The challenge of change, the blessing of balance."

Gonzales said this is a very relevant theme, and the focus is to try to cover all the different issues students will face.

"There's so much change going on in the world right now," she said. "The idea of balancing your life has to be addressed and considered."

Pat Worley, executive director for the Associated Students at Sac State, has been a mentor at the Women Mentoring Women event since it began four years ago. Worley said she still keeps in contact with the students she has met through the event.

"If students are not sure what opportunities their degree provides them, this gives them the opportunity to explore those options," she said.

Worley said that historically men in the professional world have been more supportive in offering guidance to the next generation; she said this event is simply the "right thing to do."

She said that this year's theme is extremely important for students coping with the changing economic climate, as well as the change taking place in each of the students' lives after graduation.

"Women have always had a caretaking role," Worley said. "There are multiple demands on our time, energy and attention. (The event) is about addressing how you manage that and maintain your overall well-being."

Adina Zerwig can be reached at azerwig@statehornet.com

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