They are everywhere, all over our campus – pieces of paper posted on walls, windows and in classrooms, reminding us of events and opportunities. Stony Brook, like every other campus, is covered with flyers. Miguel Melendez and a group of design artists are doing an outstanding job enlightening SBU about the happenings at the Career Center.
Melendez, currently a senior, is double majoring in Sociology and History. Like a lot of students on campus, he has found great prospects in the Career Center, and is now returning the favor to us. Melendez is the former President and current Treasurer of Lambda Upsilon Lambda, a fraternity on campus. After SBU, he wants to pursue a marketing career, where he will probably find the skills he has acquired at SBU to be helpful.
The Career Center is responsible for numerous events on campus. It holds job fairs, mock interviews, and this month, the Etiquette Dinner. Along with the excellent staff, many of the jobs at the Career Center are fulfilled by part-time student employees. Melendez works on the Graphics Design Team, sometimes in collaboration with the Marketing Team, to advertise upcoming events. Even though he does not consider graphic design as his potential career option, he commented that in terms of the Career Center, getting involved at any level is a good experience, even if for recreation.
Students can work, intern, and can definitely take advantage of the services the Career Center has to offer. The Center was designed with the students in mind, currently employing innovative services like ZebraNet, an online job listing service where one can post resumes and search for internships and volunteer opportunities.
Melendez said, “There are a lot of opportunities here that a lot of students do no know about. Within one semester, you can get connected.” Even though the Career Center is a small office complex, it is of really no consequence. In fact, the Center is a place that opens many doors.
Melendez is particularly excited about the marketing project, which involves podcasting. Podcasting was originally an Apple adventure that allowed podcasts to be subscribed over the internet using syndication feeds. This allows playback on mobile devices like iPods and personal computers. Melendez feels that podcasting is a convenient marketing tool, and can be used in the same way flyers are used to advertise for upcoming events. He said, “It is a fun tool to get the campus involved in.”
In addition to his work at the Career Center, Melendez involvement with other parts of the campus is evident through his role as the Treasurer of the Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity. The Fraternity was primarily created to address the needs of the Latino community on campus, and seeks leaders that will spread cultural awareness, community service, and promotion of the Latino culture and people.
Melendez considers his camaraderie with the fraternity very special. He remarked that even when he was President, “the fraternity functioned freely, as if there were no positions, where the machinery depended on all of contributing.” Melendez commented on how he liked his involvement in the executive board, and found organizing events and meeting for the fraternity a great learning experience.
“[He is] dedicated, someone you can count on, and always passionate about want he does,” said Luis Gil, Melendez’s colleague at the Career Center and fraternity brother.
Lambda Upsilon Lambda is involved in community service. This month members of the fraternity contributed to the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Symposium titled “Black Women and HIV/AIDS.” They are currently collaborating with other campus organizations to run Bowling for Books, the proceeds for which will go to buy books for children. Apart from this, the fraternity offers the Noche Dorada Scholarship. It also helps out at the Buena Vida Retirement Home and raise funds through FirstBook.org.
Melendez feels that the people he has met and the experiences that he has acquired by working at the Career Center, and his involvement in the fraternity, have changed him. He said, “I feel that I am more of a team player, and I never used to be.”
Melendez learned that despite having the ambition and drive to run any project, he realized that it is necessary to have help from other people. Both the Career Center and the Lambda Upsilon Lambda have taught him to network and work together to achieve goals.
