BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Each spring, rather than head to sunny beaches for their mid-semester break from classes, a group of Illinois Wesleyan students choose to spend their time away from campus getting an immersive preview of the professional world. They tour workplaces, connect with alumni and explore careers and industries that broaden their perspectives on what their futures could hold.
The Hart Career Center’s Career Immersion Excursion (CIE) has become the University’s signature career exploration experience since its launch in 2016. Warren Kistner ‘83, Director of the Hart Career Center, said the program was designed to provide students with opportunities to explore careers through travel to various cities.
“Each trip has a career focus and has included opportunities to connect with successful IWU alumni, visit organizations, attend panel presentations by alumni and other professionals in targeted fields, hear from young alumni who are in the early stages of their career and enjoy entertainment and educational opportunities in each city,” Kistner said. “Students have indicated that CIE trips have opened their eyes to career possibilities they had not previously considered. We have also had students who secured internships with organizations we visited.”
The program was made possible through a generous gift from Cathy T. Carswell ‘65, a former Illinois Wesleyan Board of Trustees member. Carswell entrusted the Hart Career Center with developing a program that would best prepare students for life after graduation. “Much appreciation to IWU alumna Cathy Carswell for her generous contributions that have made this program possible,” Kistner said. Thanks to Carswell’s ongoing support and the generosity of other donors, the program remains affordable for students and opens doors that might otherwise be unattainable.
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Recent graduate Valeria Suarez ‘26 started utilizing resources from the Hart Career Center her first year on campus before classes even began, knowing this was going to play a crucial part of her future career.
“My relationship with the Hart Career Center has been more than professional,” Suarez said. “Ever since I got to Wesleyan as an international student, they have been there to help me navigate a system that I was not familiar with.”
One of the career center resources Suarez used to help establish her future was participating in the Career Immersion Excursion. The experience was so transformative that she participated twice.
This year’s humanities-focused excursion took 23 students to Chicago during Spring Break, where they explored a wide range of available careers. Stops included the Field Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, MacArthur Foundation, Newberry Library, Sourcebooks, theatres and networking events featuring Illinois Wesleyan alumni. The trip expanded Suarez’s aspirations for where her passions could lead.
“We got to meet this amazing author who made writing her career. I always wanted to explore more about literature and editing and publishing,” she said. “It was so inspiring because she was so down to earth.”
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One pillar of CIE is its emphasis on alumni mentorship. The trip begins with a panel of recent graduates who candidly discuss life after Illinois Wesleyan. Then, students spend an evening in small groups over dinner with alumni in professional fields.
Suarez’s dinner host was Juan Salgado ‘91, chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago and a 2015 MacArthur Fellow.
“Juan emphasized that there’s always the possibility to give back to your community while growing your career,” Suarez said. “It reminded me of why I chose Wesleyan in the first place. I want to be part of that alumni network someday and do something bigger than myself.”
Participating alumni embrace the chance to reconnect with their alma mater while making a difference in the lives of younger Titans.
For Jeff Schroder ‘97, public programs coordinator at the Chicago Field Museum, hosting students was an opportunity to showcase both his workplace and the flexibility of a liberal arts education.
Schroder spent nearly two decades as a school psychologist before transitioning into museum education, where he now leads public engagement programs.
“I felt pretty confident that I could transition into something different,” he said. “You’re getting a great education at Illinois Wesleyan. You can go into one field, switch around, look at different things and you’re going to be prepared.”
Schroder sharing his career journey with the students reinforced one of the excursion’s central messages: careers rarely follow a straight line.
“People in the museum field often didn’t start here,” Schroder relayed to the students. “Follow where your curiosity is leading you, even later in life.”
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The humanities excursion intentionally challenged assumptions about where graduates can find jobs in the field.
At the Field Museum, students toured public education spaces, met exhibition designers and anthropology staff and ventured behind the scenes into the museum’s underground collections areas.
Many students arrived expecting museum careers centered on research. Instead, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Field Museum exposed them to careers in exhibit design, education, conservation, public programming and community engagement.
“I hope the students were inspired that you can take all sorts of different paths to get to a really incredible place like the Field Museum,” Schroder said.
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Suarez’s first excursion inspired her to pursue an internship with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, an opportunity she might never have considered otherwise. The experience broadened her skills and confidence while confirming that exploring unfamiliar paths could lead to unexpected opportunities.
Now, after graduating from Illinois Wesleyan, Suarez is preparing to begin a fully funded master’s program at the University of Cambridge focused on global risk and resilience.
Looking back, she credits the Hart Career Center with being a constant source of support from the moment she arrived on campus.
She now encourages every student to take advantage of the opportunities available through the career center.
“Wesleyan gives us so many opportunities on a silver plate,” Suarez said. “We just have to take them.”
That philosophy captures the spirit of the CIE trip. Nearly a decade after Carswell’s gift launched the program, alumni continue to volunteer their time, donors continue to make the experience possible and Hart Career Center staff continue to create opportunities for students to explore careers in meaningful ways. Students leave with expanded career possibilities and the confidence to imagine futures they may never have considered before.