Lay on the loot

Our Yale crew has been making out like bandits at Reaching Out. First, before I even got here, I won a drawing for free airline tickets on American. Sweet. Then yesterday, I won a $250 stand-up mixer in a drawing because I threw in my business card at the Whirlpool booth at the career expo; always do that. It's a nice appliance (that I would never in a million years buy), although it's going to be a pain to carry back. But those victories are wimpy and uninteresting compared to that of Jason, a first-year student in my program who won first place in an essay contest and thus will receive $3,000. It's nice when a trip more than pays for itself.

And on the job front, both the first-year students who came along have had a couple job interviews for summer internships. That doesn't seem to be as common a procedure for full-time jobs, which is what I'm looking for, although I was invited for an interview somewhere but declined (because, well, it's in Louisville ... I frankly can't imagine what words could come out of their mouth that would make me, at this stage in my life, move to Louisville). 

I've discovered a few neat career opportunities because a lot of the companies here don't visit or recruit at Yale. That's one of the drawbacks of being in a smaller program that's not in a major city; we do get some big companies coming to campus, but there are an awful lot we don't get (like P&G, J&J and other ampersandwiches).

The speakers have been a highlight. Pictured above is Dustin Lance Black, Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Milk." He stressed the importance of coming out, especially as we all become business leaders. And this afternoon we heard a fantastic speech from Brian Graden, a big shot in the entertainment industry who's also a Harvard Business School grad and an excellent public speaker. The theme of his talk was challenging the adage "It's all about who you know"; he says that saying implies that other people hold the key to your success, but in fact, you do. We also heard a very interesting speech by Meghan Stabler, a senior manager at CA Technologies who transitioned from male to female.

And, of course, we had a blast going out last night. A blast.

We leave tomorrow. So sad.