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First-year students spent an afternoon exploring local tourist spots, shops, and restaurants during September’s Roanoke Romp, a scavenger hunt that began at the Mill Mountain Star and led them through downtown Roanoke.

In November, workers addressed the substantial heat loss in Barbee House that was identified during an energy audit conducted in January 2013 by Community Housing Partners, a regional housing and community development organization. Insulation is being blown into one of several holes drilled in the west wall (see photo showing the major heat-loss areas). According to Hollins energy manager Jesse Freedman, the project will garner $4,500 in annual energy savings and improve indoor air quality.

High drama

Recent kudos for the undergraduate and graduate theatre programs

• The Princeton Review’s 2014 college guide, The Best 378 Colleges, ranked Hollins 18th in the “Best College Theater” category.
• Robert Plowman, an M.F.A. student in the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins, won the 2014 Charles M. Getchell New Play Award for his work The Missing Link. A Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) panel of readers who are prominent in the profession selected the play from 58 submissions. Plowman will receive a staged reading and critique at the SETC’s annual convention.
• Hollins and Roanoke’s Mill Mountain Theatre are hosting the Region IV Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival February 4-10, expected to bring more than 1,000 students, faculty, and theatre dignitaries to Roanoke to celebrate the best in college theatre throughout the Southeast.

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“Fear has no place in your success equation”

Second annual C3 event emphasizes career preparation

Approximately 100 alumnae returned to campus to share tips, tools, and job-finding ideas with hundreds of current students during October’s Career Connection Conference (C3).

Keynote speaker Carla Harris of Morgan Stanley, appointed last fall by President Obama to serve as chair of the National Women’s Business Council, delivered a spirited kick-off address, energizing a capacity audience in the Hollins Theatre with the “pearls of wisdom” she has learned through more than two decades of working on Wall Street.

“What are some of those things that really inform your success equation and make the difference between just surviving and thriving? That’s what the pearls are all about,” she explained.

Along with extolling the importance of mentors, sponsors, and advisors throughout one’s career, Harris emphasized the following key messages to students:

• “Perception is the copilot to reality—how people perceive you will directly affect how they deal with you. What lens are they looking through when they’re looking at you?”
• “If you are going to be a leader in the 21st century, you must be comfortable taking risks. Fear has no place in your success equation.”
• “If you want to maximize your success, you must bring your best authentic self to the table.”

Following the keynote address, students and alumnae engaged in workshops and presentations on a wide range of topics, including internships, building an effective résumé, interviewing dos and don’ts, using technology and networking, and workplace etiquette. Students also attended panels on how to translate their liberal arts education into careers in financial services, law, science, nonprofit and religious service, visual arts, media and public relations, performing arts, education, health care, government and public service, and entrepreneurship.

Students could attend “Speed Connection” sessions that encouraged them to network with alumnae in a fast-paced, fun, and informal setting.

Evening events included a networking and dinner reception and two post-conference conversations: “A Different Kind of Canvas,” which looked at careers in technology, engineering, and design; and “Being an African-American Woman in the Workplace.”