Southwestern Adventist University (SWAU) students and 43 perspective employers met on campus at the Leiske-Pultar Gymnasium at this year’s SWAU’s Pathways to Success Career Expo. It was the high point of the Pathways to Success career emphasis month. During October, the Pathways team prepared students for the event by coaching them on resume writing, dressing professionally, researching job opportunities, and how to appropriately interact with employers. “We hope our students get a job or an internship or some type of direction for a graduate program that they want to pursue out of this event,” explained Eglae Sandoval, director of Pathways for Success. She and her team invited vendors to the Expo to benefit students from every major.

Jose Castro Laynez, a SWAU junior theology major, talked to Texas and Texico Conferences representatives, “They gave me insight into what it is like to work for them and a few of their statistics, like how many churches and schools there are in their demographics. I also talked to AdventHealth about chaplain positions, and even though there weren’t any openings, they were open to my ideas and suggestions.”

Vendors spoke highly of SWAU’s students and how well-prepared they were to step into the work world. From Adventist and local universities, Seventh-day Adventist organizations and secular businesses, such as Pinnacle Bank and Enterprise, healthcare companies like AdventHealth and US Renal Care, to the US Army, vendors took the event seriously and showed interest in SWAU’s students who are ready for success.

Dr. Donna Berkner, vice president for academic administration at SWAU, said, “This event is an amazing opportunity to have access to a variety of businesses and other graduate schools for students to look forward to in the future, and I’m so grateful for Eglae in her planning for this event as the director of the Pathways Program and the rest of her team.”