I've been a SAGE Scholar for almost two years now. To be honest, I did NOT expect this program to make a big impact in my life when I was applying for it. I thought it was more of a recreational club.
However, the first semester in SAGE showed me how rigorous the program was going to be. It pushed me way over what I thought were my limits. It made me face my fears, like public speaking, expose myself to unexplored career opportunities, provided me with mentors, and helped me to secure my first internship in the industry.
People who knew me before joining the program say I've changed dramatically. I'm much more confident and relaxed in public. I don't get red and start mumbling while talking to industry professionals. I know how to present myself in business environment and show potential employers who I really am. I've got multiple compliments from my professors, coworkers and peers about my professional attitude.
Overall, the program isn't just another extracurricular activity on my schedule but a friendly supporting community I feel really attached to. I'm really happy that there are people I can relate to and rely on in a such large university.
I have served as volunteer and now board member for almost a decade. The transformation -- in terms of confidence, poise, experience, and leadership -- that SAGE brings about in these brilliant and brave young people is awe-inspiring. Anyone who asks, "What's the matter with youth today?" hasn't met this group.
I am a current student in the SAGE Scholar's Program. The program has given me life changing career advice that will help me succeed upon graduation from UC Berkeley. More importantly, the program provides networking opportunities, financial management skills, and the ability to work on basic skills needed in the workforce. This program has helped me reach my own personal goals.
I am a current student in the UC Berkeley SAGE Scholars Program. I would honestly say that applying to this program was the best decision I have made in college. As the first one to graduate High School in my family, I did not know how to navigate corporate settings. This program developed my professional skills and networking skills and I have acquired multiple internships and opportunities. Overall, it changed my mindset on how I viewed myself and promoted myself.
SAGE has an incredible way of connecting people and creating a strong community. This past summer, I contracted meningococcal meningitis and I was hospitalized for four months. Multiple SAGE Scholars and especially the Executive Director, Marjorie Weingrow, visited me constantly and cheered me on. I was also not able to work and support my family so SAGE fundraised thousands of dollars so I could help my family financially. Overall, SAGE was there when I needed my community the most. i am truly grateful and plan to give back one day.
I am in the alumni and graduated in 2003. This program probably kept me from dropping out of Berkeley all together. Not only did the funding from internship programs keep my education funded but the community was extremely important to address issues and challenges which I faced on a daily and weekly basis. Teaching students early on to take responbility rather than play the victim role was extremely.
I am an alumna of this program (Class of 2006) and benefitted so much from the professional development training, the networking events, and the internship opportunities it offered to me. Thanks to SAGE, I was connected to my internship with Wells Fargo which led to a full-time position. I have been with the company for over 7 years now.
Most of the students in the program are usually the first in their family’s to go to college and usually the first to enter the corporate arena. I was definately the first in both instances for my family. I counted on SAGE to provide me the guidance on how to navigate the job application process, how to create an impressive resume, how to dress in the workplace, prepare and nail the interview, and how to write in a business setting.
Graduates of SAGE, including myself, don’t forget about the communities we come from and grew up in. We graduate and are eager to return to our communities and return the assistance that was provided to us during our time in the SAGE program.
I am indebted to SAGE and this is why I joined its board. I wanted to return the same benefits it offered to me so that future scholars can successfully graduate from UC Berkeley and feel empowered and confident about entering the work force upon graduation.
I have been in the SAGE program for two years. Through the SAGE program I have met some amazing students (other UC Berkeley students as well as our high school student mentees), improved my business writing and public speaking skills at least ten-fold, and I been given opportunities that I could not have found on my own.