Education and Camp Guide 2.1 - Flipbook - Page 13
The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, February 1, 2026
Drummond is unsure of his career
trajectory at this point. As a landscape
architect, he could join a firm, work for a
nonprofit or government entity or enroll
in graduate school. Some students continue on to pursue architecture to have
dual certifications, Ellis says.
Serving the Business Community
At Loyola University Maryland’s
Sellinger School of Business and
Management, students are gaining realworld consulting experiences as they
work on actual projects for companies
in the area.
The Loyola Consulting Group was
formed six years ago to provide problem-solving opportunities for students
in the hopes the experiences could lead
to consulting jobs, according to Dave
Luvison, D.B.A., faculty advisor for the
Loyola Consulting Group. Today, the
group includes more than 50 student
members who serve on project teams
for small clients in a variety of industries
over a semester. Last fall, 46 companies
applied for assistance and eight were
chosen, including an accounting recruiting firm, retail store, restaurant, paper
retailer and a cannabis dispensary.
The club is run and executed by students who serve as analysts, consultants
and leaders. The club meets weekly for
organization, check-ins and professional
development, and students work on
their projects during eight-to-nine weeks
during the semester. Each student commits about five to eight hours weekly,
conducting pro bono work for clients as
Ask Margit, continued from page 3
also surveyed 2,100 hiring managers to
learn what they seek in new hires. Keep in
mind that this is NYU and the class is part
of the MBA degree requirement.
So, did they jibe? Not exactly. And
since you already know the end result,
here are some disparities. So, you know,
Welch never disclosed how many values
someone taking her survey could list, and
we don’t have a copy of the survey. The
definitions are Welch’s.
The No. 1 value HR managers desired
in their new employees was Achievement,
“wanting accomplishments and success
other people can see.” Gen Z placed it
at #11. HR managers next listed scope,
part of an eight-member team. They also
meet with faculty mentors several times
during the semester.
The substantive projects vary from
producing print and digital materials for
clients to charting accounts for system
implementation. “It’s experiential learning – the students take some of the skills
they learn in the classroom and actually
get to use them before they get into the
workforce,” Luvison explains. Students
learn skills in project management, communication and problem solving, and
can speak to their experiences in future
job interviews.
“They actually worked on one or
more projects [and can] demonstrate
some real-world skills in an environment
where they don’t have complete control
[like a classroom],” Luvison says. “It
allows them to apply what they know
to solve a problem. What we do in the
classroom is valuable, but it can also be
artificial.
“They’re actually face to face with a
client who’s got a problem where they
can’t raise enough funds, or they can’t
grow their market big enough, or they
can’t figure out how to handle their
operations, and they are able to actually implement something that solves
that problem.” They also experience the
reward of meeting with their clients at
the semester’s end and see how they
appreciate the work that was done.
“Getting an A in a classroom is not
the same thing as performing in the real
world or performing in the workplace,”
Luvison explains. “They get a chance
to look at what the client needs, think
about [it] and then collectively work
through the issues and the problems to
try to figure out a way that they can actually resolve it. And they often pleasantly
surprise themselves at how creative they
are, how effective they can be.”
“the desire for learning, action and stimulation.” It’s #10 on Gen Z’s list. Third for
the HR managers was “workcentrism, the
desire to work for work’s sake.” For Gen
Z, it’s #9.
Welch then calculated the percentage
of the 7,563 Gen-Zers with values that
matched the ones the HR managers
identified. Only 154, or 2.04 percent did
so.
You’re probably wondering how accurate Welch’s survey is. One friend who
has a speech pathology practice thought
about his clinicians. As he ran through
the names of his employees, he was
nodding, “Yes, yes, yes…” All of them
were Gen-Z and fit what the survey said
about them: that they were not part of
the two percent. Another friend is hiring
a replacement for an employee who
left. One week he had three interviews
scheduled. Not one of them showed up.
In both cases, they run small businesses
and don’t have a hiring manager.
But there should be some concern as
to how true this survey is. An article in
The New York Times on November 28,
2025, told of a surprising trend among
Gen Z shoppers. “…many Gen Z shoppers won’t be scouring luxury stores or
big-box aisles for their gifts. Instead, they
are turning to thrift stores, consignment
shops and resale apps. About 86 percent
of Gen Z-ers say they’re more likely to
purchase a secondhand holiday gift this
year than they would have been, according to a report from eBay.”
In other words, Gen Z is distinguishing
Life Behind the Scenes
Collaboration with local arts programs has enabled students at Towson
University to secure summer experiences working behind the scenes in production roles.
“It’s hard for students to see that this
is a viable career pathway, that they can
support themselves and make their living,” says Seth Schwartz, director for the
center of the performing arts in the college of fine arts and communications at
Towson University. “It’s wonderful when
a student can work alongside people
who are out of school, making their living
doing theater.”
The Summer at the Center program
began three years ago as a way to
highlight the arts that are part of the fine
arts and communications department at
Towson, and spotlighting alumni, faculty
and staff who also work professionally
in the community. Through the center, students are supported with the
paid opportunity to be involved in the
technical side of local performing arts,
including stage management, lights,
sound, video, hospitality, front of house,
ushering, and ticket sales, and some
take advantage of the offer to stay in
campus housing as well. One partner
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is Chesapeake Shakespeare’s outreach
program, called Shakespeare Beyond,
and one Towson student joined its summer touring production staff last summer
and brought back that knowledge to
share with peers and serve as a stage
manager for university productions.
This year, Summer at the Center will
expand to include several disciplines.
Students will get a chance to work on
operatic pieces, theatrical showings and
concerts.
“It’s a very well-rounded experience;
where they’re doing everything but stepping out on stage and singing a song,”
Schwartz says.
The program gives students a boost
of confidence beyond the work they do
as part of the bachelor of arts degree
in theater, in the production and design
track. They also work on interpersonal
skills as they connect and network with
professionals in the industry.
“We’re teaching how things work in
the real world, and this gives them a
chance to apply the skills that they’re
learning, hopefully enhance them but
[also] get that additional opportunity to
learn and grow as an artist,” Schwartz
explains. “We have a need in this area.
We have so [many] live events, places
of worship, museums. We have the
Baltimore aquarium. All of these places
need people with these skill sets, so
to be a training ground for them, it is
awesome.”
itself and its values. The story goes on
to say it’s not about money. “The shoppers in this cohort are after pieces with
character. They grew up on social media,
where influencers made thrifting look fun,
stylish, and deeply personal. Now they
want something unique. Something with
a story. Something you can’t find in a mall
window.”
We are seeing the impact of how
Gen-Z, a.k.a., digital natives, are defining
themselves in this tale, and there will
be other common traits or behaviors to
come as the tail end of this demographic, only 13 today, ages. As with other
generations, they will continue to define
themselves. Stay tuned.
