Advice from a recent SD graduate

"Resume writing and cover letter drafting are wonderful things to practice, but I've personally gotten nowhere with these tools. What I wish I had paid more attention to, was the projects and activities I was doing during my time at ASU.  I wish that I had made better documentation of these projects (project summary, when I worked on it, what I learned, tools I learned to use) in a nice little online or zip drive portfolio.

From Principles of Sustainability, to Agroecology, to Senior Seminar, I think that each SD student should be required to put their projects into a portfolio that they can take with them after they graduate instead of triumphantly burn them in a campfire or delete them after the semester is over. People want to know what sort of skills you can bring to the organization, not how much work you've done, where you worked, or whether or not you can convince them you are an intelligent persuasive person. I wish I could simply say, "check out my portfolio to see soil fertility management plans, policy briefs, maps, and forest management plans that I have created during my time at ASU". (And maybe some kids have done this, but I sure as heck felt like it was common practice to out-of-sight, out-of-mind the projects and papers that were slaved over during classes after they were submitted.)

Maybe students can make a portfolio on day 1 of Principles and then look over it and show it off 2 years later on the last day of senior seminar. In the back of their minds they will know that at the end of their college career, they will have to show what they have done with their time as a student. Maybe it's too much of a regimented approach but I so wish I had done this."