Master Your Talent event succesful

Each year, third-year students from both the Honours College and the university are faced with the question: what will I do after I finish my Bachelor's degree? With options nearly unlimited, third-year students have a lot to choose from. To encourage students to reflect on their future plans and offer them valuable advice, each year, the Master Your Talent event is organized. Master Your Talent is an informational event for third-year Bachelor's students to meet professionals and academic ambassadors. During the speed dates held in small groups, these students had the opportunity to interact with the ambassadors through informal conversations and ask their questions regarding the Honours College Master's programmes, Research Master's, PhD studies, or a professional career outside of academia.

This year's edition, prepared jointly by the Honours College and the Graduate Schools, took place on the 17th of March. Because of the COVID-19 measures and to accommodate everyone’s availability, the 2022 edition was held online.

The event was hosted by our alumna, Tabea Marie Zorn, who recently graduated from the Honours Leadership programme and freshly remembers her own struggles, as she shared in her opening speech. The Dean of the Honours College, prof. Hanny Elzinga, joined Tabea (the host of the event, who is a recent graduate from the Master’s Honours Leadership programme) in the words of encouragement for the third-year students who are facing a decision-making process right now about their future career prospects. The Dean of Graduate Schools, prof. Petra Rudolf, also emphasized the importance of the Master Your Talent event and the opportunity for participants to exchange their thoughts with young academics and researchers, or professionals.

The whole audience was pleased with the presentation given by the guest speaker, prof. Amina Helmi, from the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Prof. Helmi's presentation made astrology a bit more approachable. It was a wonderful experience to hear an inspirational and renowned researcher and professor explaining the premise of their research, which was awarded the Spinoza prize in 2019.

In the second half of the event, students took the opportunity to meet with two different ambassadors. The profiles of the ambassadors were made available prior to the event, therefore, the students could choose who they would like to interact with. During the speed dates, third-year students asked questions not only about education and work, but also about the intricacies of the decision-making process after graduation.

Our great thanks go to the ambassadors who helped this year. As this year's edition was fruitful in great conversations and valuable advice, we cannot wait to see what next year's edition brings!