Yongbo Qian

Imprint

 

Imprint is definitely one of my favorite i-programs because the issues it addressed: change, transition, network, and benefited me as a whole for my experience throughout the rest of my college career. Although when I participated in the program, I was only a Sophomore with little awareness of how my actual career will turn out, this program still endowed me with passion and interest and motivated me to build relationships and to know how to take advantage of opportunities.

 

We began by setting the right attitude to commit to for the day. The environment became very formal when everyone was in the business casual attire. We were split into different tables based on our majors. I was in the group of my previous major, Architecture Studies. I shared about my unique transition experiences of starting my college life abroad and transferring to a different major. The alumni coach of our group, Tom Zurowski, who is the founding principal of Eastlake Studio, also shared his stories about how he making his transition from school to work and successfully starting his own studio. From the stories of the alumni and peers, I learnt that the essence of managing successful transitions requires the right skill set and attitude. We need to be specific on what we want to focus on, find ways to feel the change through appeals to the emotions senses and create an environment that supports the transition.

 

Another focus of the program is networking. We communicated with participants and alumni from different majors in the second half of the program. I particularly talked to people from Electrical Engineering, which was the major I had recently transferred to. We were also started to build the personal branding in order to make the network more significant. Upon reflection of my previous networking experiences, I could be fairly sociable when I want to be, however, sometimes I encountered some situations in which I did not have many things in common with the people I wanted to connect with. This decreased my confidence and energy level in stepping out of my comfort zone to actively make the new connections. Also, I am not strong in maintaining some acquaintance ties. After the discussion with our group, I gained some networking tips, which may help solve these challenges: build relationships before you need them; be transparent in who you are in order to form meaningful connections and do remain in contact. I could also give myself a little mental push to go over the initial hurdle in networking and easily introduce myself and be an active listener regardless where the conversation goes.

 

The transitional and networking skills I strengthened in this i-program turned out to be very useful in my last two years in college. Whenever I encountered some difficult transitions, I took a look at the transition curve and believed I would finally reach the new beginning. I also took more initiatives in networking with people. I will definitely keep practicing those skills by applying them in the future, especially when the transition happens from school to work.