Students: You will never be more interesting to the average Grinnell graduate than you are now. We have all been right where you are today—in small, safe Grinnell wondering about our future in the “big world.” Some will tell you that Robert Noyce’s (Grinnell 1949) invention, the micro-processor, is human-kind’s greatest tool. We Grinnellians know better; our most powerful tool is analytic empathy.
Put yourself in our shoes as alums. We have lost touch with the trends that are second nature to college students like you. We have lost touch with the very campus you live on. We may have children about your age—a fact that can dramatically increase our curiosity about what your generation is thinking. Our college-era transition from liberal arts enclave to the big world may well have been more bumpy than yours will be because resources like established college internship programs and blogs such as this did not exist in our era (fact: the .edu domain was not established until 1985—three years after I graduated).
Given these facts, you should not hesitate to research Grinnell graduates doing what you think you might want to do or to connect with them once you find them. Email has made reaching out to people you do not know easier and less intrusive. After you have done your homework, email the graduate you think you can learn from. Tell them what it is about their work that interests you and a sentence or two about yourself that connects the two of you as fellow Grinnellians. Don’t start out asking a graduate for a job; seek their basic insight about the work that interests both of you. Perhaps suggest a 20-minute Zoom call at a mutually convenient time or even a phone call with the alum on his or her drive home after work.
The worst that can happen is some old person you do not know says no to you. Fear not and chase your interests with joy.
Mark Finkelstein (pictured with his dog Phoebe) graduated from Grinnell in 1982 with a political science degree. He took as many classes from spectacular biologist Ken Christiansen as he could. During his time at Grinnell, he focused on taking classes from great teachers like Christiansen, Moyer, Strauber, Reed, Connoly and Kisane, but recalls that he missed a bunch of great professors in the process.
Mark went on to graduate from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1985 and has practiced law in Raleigh ever since. He clerked for Chief Judge Hedrick of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, worked for a huge multinational law firm with over 1000 lawyers (including 100 in Hong Cong), and started his own small law firm. He is now in senior status with Fox Rothschild, a firm with about 990 lawyers in 29 offices throughout the United States.
Mark is the former president of the 10th Judicial District Bar (All of Raleigh and Wake County and part of Research Triangle Park) and of the Chief Justice Susie M. Sharp Inn of Court. His law practice focuses on business disputes. Mark’s nephew Ben is a Grinnellian, ’10, and he is the proud father of a NCSU College of Textiles grad (2022) and a UNC – Chapel Hill first year. Go Wolfpack, Go Tar Heels, and Go Pioneers!
