The Frosh Foundation

By Divine Edem '18, Political Science 

As frosh, it can be difficult to determine what we want do with our time at Stanford and after. In addition to these self-reflecting times, frosh can have difficulty securing those internships due to lack of experience in the workforce or the competition with upperclassmen. Because of these internal and external hardships, Laila Al-Shamma ‘18 sought guidance from BEAM in order to determine an efficient and resourceful way to navigate through first year and beyond.

Her collaborative efforts with BEAM started in the winter quarter of her first year at BEAM’s annual Frosh Open House. Frosh Open House gives frosh the chance to explore opportunities Stanford has to offer from its on-campus academic departments to the remarkable alumni network. Previously, Al-Shamma developed her account on Stanford’s career portal. She held a broad set of interests in the variety of opportunities the Farm offered. However, she wanted to wane her choices in preparation for the upcoming search for summer internships. She decided to seek further assistance through the guidance of BEAM’s Career Coach, John O’Neill. O’Neill serves as the Assistant Dean of Career Education, catering to frosh and sophs.

“Laila is a well-spoken, thoughtful, mature student who takes her career development seriously, so I knew it would be beneficial to continue working together,” John expressed when discussing why he decided to work further with her. “She wasn't sure what to expect, but felt a sense of belonging and loved the activities during the evening.”

O’Neill worked with her on discovering her deepest interests in order to set goals and objectives for the things she wanted to do during her time at Stanford. They regularly met through individual meetings in which they held resourceful conversations on methods to finding what she loved.

“The folks at BEAM (formerly CDC)  were always just interested in helping me find opportunities that would make me happy, whether it was an internship or not,” Laila Al-Shamma revealed on her time with BEAM.

After her meetings with O’Neill, Laila Al-Shamma decided to take the ideas she learned and spread them around to other frosh and those alike. She stepped up as a panelist for the career session at Stanford’s Parent’s Weekend. Because of her undeclared status, Al-Shamma was able to speak on her experiences working with BEAM and the invaluable advice the department had to offer on finding your passion and developing the skills to execute one’s interests and desires productively.

Al-Shamma’s experience highlights an important reason why working with frosh holds such significance not only in career education but universities in general.

“Frosh are entering a brand new world with very high expectations, so it's extremely important to be approachable, friendly, and realistic,” O’Neill expressed.