Fall Break Student Trip: Seattle
During Nebraska’s fall break in October 2018, Director of Recruitment and Student Success Anna Pressler took 14 students, primarily freshmen and sophomores, to Seattle to visit companies, connect with Raikes School and Nebraska alumni, and get a feel for life in the city.
The group flew to Seattle on Sunday, October 14 and hit the ground running upon arrival. On Sunday, they explored Pike Place Market and visited the Sky View Observatory followed by dinner with Raikes School alumni and friends living and working in the area. Monday included company tours and meetings at Microsoft, Moz, and Giving Tech Labs. The trip concluded on Tuesday with a trip to Amazon and the crowd favorite, the Amazon Go Store.
As with our fall 2017 trip to Silicon Valley, the aim of this trip was opening students’ eyes to the plethora of employment options and the innovation happening in Seattle. Raikes School students are incredibly lucky to interact regularly with companies such as Hudl, Spreetail, Nelnet, TD Ameritrade, Buildertrend and many others. These fall break trips are building awareness of the Raikes School outside of Nebraska, growing recruitment pipelines, and showing students real life examples of the amazing work our alumni are doing and where they could also be someday. One student on the trip said, “My favorite part of the trip was meeting the alumni and getting a look at how companies’ personalities and campuses differ. I had a great time meeting people and making connections with alumni, and with my fellow Raikes School classmates as well. I am so glad I had an opportunity to travel and explore a city like Seattle. This is definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my college experience.”
Support from Raikes School alumni and friends was vital in making this trip possible. We owe a huge thanks to Michael Guthmann (cohort 2004), Ryan Erdman (cohort 2012), and Libby Gentry (cohort 2014) who helped coordinate our visit to Microsoft, David Pierce (cohort 2005) who coordinated our visit to Moz, and Michael Varilek (cohort 2009), Jamison Schuster (cohort 2009), and Adam Prusa (cohort 2010) who coordinated our visit to Amazon.
We hope to replicate this experience in other cities in the future, potentially Austin, Chicago, New York City, Boston, or Kansas City. Contact Anna Pressler, anna.pressler@unl.edu, with suggestions or interest in helping coordinate future student trips.