Giving Back: Georgetown University Launches Tawjeeh Mentoring Program
The Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (GU-Q) announced the launch of a brand new mentoring program called Tawjeeh at an alumni and student networking dinner held at the W hotel in Doha, recently. The event, which brought more than seventy students and thirty five alumni from Georgetown together, is the latest initiative of the university’s Office of Outreach and Business Development.
Executive Director of Outreach and Business Development, Jonathan Cartmell, noted the significance of engaging successful graduates of a Georgetown education, saying “The launch of Tawjeeh signals another step in the integration of the Georgetown campus in Education City, and the local Doha community. This program enables our successful alumni to reconnect to the Georgetown community of current students, who we have no doubt will benefit from this mentoring process, and who will go on to forge equally successful transitions from academics to careers.”
Due to high interest from both the Georgetown students and alumni invited to take part in the Tawjeeh program, which is Arabic for “mentorship”, the organizers opted for a “speed networking” format, with groups of students sharing similar career interests moving through various rounds of question and answer sessions in order to meet alumni working in a variety of industries. The alumni mentors represented a whole host of international corporations and government entities such as the Qatar Museums Authority, ExxonMobil Qatar, the Qatar National Food Security Programme, the Brookings Center Doha, local and international banks, and other Qatar Foundation organizations.
Charles Nailen, Executive Officer, Outreach and External Relations at Georgetown and co-organizer of the program, said “Mentors have the unique perspective of objective outsiders, and have lived through some of the experiences and challenges that our Georgetown students are currently facing. By simply sharing their knowledge and stories, they provide an invaluable resource to students who, prior to this program, only had informal opportunities of meeting and interacting with alumni. This program will allow students to access the entire community of seasoned veterans, as well as more recent grads.”
Also speaking at the event was William YangUn Cha, a current student and President of the Student Government Association at Georgetown, who focused on the importance of networking well before the start of the career journey. “We have to face the challenges of job availability for entry level positions. After graduation, there will be situations in which connections and networking are more important than our set of skills. To meet the specific and peculiar needs of the market, events such as tonight’s Georgetown Alumni Networking Event is pivotal for many of us.”
A buffet dinner followed the intensive networking sessions, and volunteer mentors and students filled up sign in sheets to be added to the roster of future mentoring opportunities, each agreeing to a commitment of time and engagement to the program. Mentors were also promised a mentorship manual and training in the near future to maximize the experience for everyone involved.