Spring Opportunities Fair gives MC seniors one more chance to establish post-graduate plans
March 11, 2025
A new event will take place at Maryville College this semester to give seniors a chance to connect with local organizations offering graduate opportunities that can help mitigate post-commencement stress surrounding their futures.
The Spring Opportunities Fair, organized by the Maryville College Career Center, will include a variety of organizations Career Center staff members discovered through promotional events on job websites like Handshake, social media platforms, and email outreach to organizations that Maryville College has worked with in the past. Sarah Shuford, Career Center services coordinator, played a large role in making this important event happen for the MC community.
“The Spring Opportunities Fair is a smaller fair designed to connect organizations with students, particularly seniors graduating this spring, seeking full-time jobs, internships, part-time positions or opportunities for graduate programs beginning in the upcoming summer or fall,” Shuford explained.
The fair will also be a chance for students to practice networking, as well as marketing themselves to future employers or graduate programs. One company that will be in attendance is Clayton, for which MC alumna and Clayton External Communications Specialist Emily Bridges ’23 has worked for two years. Clayton is an East Tennessee-based homebuilding company that understands the value in students making career connections, Bridges said.
“Clayton recognizes the importance of connecting with students and emerging professionals as they begin to navigate the transition from college to their careers … events like the Opportunities Fair provide Clayton with a unique chance to connect with a talented pool of local young professionals,” Bridges said.
Clayton is one of more than 40 organizations that will attend the Spring Opportunities Fair. It, like other organizations, will offer a variety of graduate opportunities, including internships and entry-level positions to students in order to give them hands-on experience and a boost into the professional world.
Graduate program representatives from other colleges and universities will also be in attendance at the fair to advertise a variety of post-graduate options to students. Those schools include Campbellsville University, Lee University and East Tennessee State University. Shuford hopes that students will take advantage of the resources the fair provides.
“I encourage students to expand their networks and make valuable connections with organizations and graduate schools. Finally, this will be a great opportunity for seniors who are scheduled to graduate this May to come and connect with organizations that are still offering graduate opportunities,” Shuford said.The idea, Shuford added, is for the new initiative to give students a chance to build a network, establish a new vision for their future, and get a foot in the door with companies or graduate schools. The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 20 in the William Baxter Lee III Grand Foyer of the Clayton Center for the Arts. For more information, email careercenter@maryvillecollege.edu.
Written by Lilli Bryan ’25