Monica Geter is one of 25 HBCU students selected to participate
Columbia, SC – February 26, 2019—The Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI), in partnership with The Whether, a minority-owned recruitment marketing platform, recently announced the inaugural cohort of fellows in the Mary Ellen Pleasant Entrepreneur (MEPE) Fellowship program. Benedict College Senior Monica Geter was one of 25 students chosen to serve as a fellow in the Entrepreneurship program.
“I am very proud of Monica and our Career Pathways Initiative team that have prepared her for this unique and rigorous experience,” said Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis, President and CEO of Benedict College. “Monica and CPI represent the hard work and transformational educational experiences that are being cultivated at Benedict College.
“Being part of this entrepreneurship program will give me the experience and confidence I need to take on further leadership opportunities in my career!” said Monica Geter, a senior psychology major from Queens, New York. “Through the fellowship program, I will be able to guide other individuals like myself, to become their BEST selves in their careers.”
Following graduation from Benedict College, Geter plans to pursue a Master’s degree in Public Relations. She is currently an active member of Aspiring Black Psychologists, Collegiate 100 of BC, Sister Act, The Sigma Alpha Pi Chapter of National Society of Leadership and Success and the 20/20 Leaders of America.
The MEPE Fellowship aims to increase the number of future entrepreneurs from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and is part of a $775,000 Innovations in Career Advising grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In the program, HBCU students have the opportunity to build a peer advising startup through a 10-week virtual fellowship during the Spring 2019 semester with the assistance of The Whether’s virtual business and marketing-focused curriculum and the scientifically-validated Clarity Assessment.
“This fellowship is distinct because it has been developed particularly for HBCU students to serve HBCU students; we are so excited to offer this opportunity and to work alongside The Whether,” says Marybeth Gasman, the Judy and Howard Berkowitz Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Center for Minority Serving Institutions.
The Clarity Assessment is focused on sharpening student’s and helping them to focus and identify growth tracks and articulate career goals. The fellows will be responsible for introducing the assessment on campus to professors, student organizations, and individuals. Per the grant, fellows will gather feedback and help their peers in the assessment process.
The Whether Founder and CEO, Chris Motley shares, “We received over 300 applications with more than 80 making it to the interview round. Our team made a very conscious effort to consider a diverse set of criteria that went beyond major and GPA.”
The result was a class with 64% women, 40% having a dominant professional value of Taking Risks (compared with < 5% on average) from 14 different schools.
Throughout the fellowship, fellows will learn key startup principles and the components to successful and sustainable entrepreneurship, participate in a virtual curriculum on marketing, the customer funnel, virtually collaborate with the Whether’s peer advising platform across partner institutions, and experiment with innovative techniques to assist students on campus in identifying career paths and interests.
Fellows will keep track of their impact on campus by measuring the number of students they’ve reached, those who have completed their Clarity assessment, and those who have provided feedback about the effectiveness of their peer advising startup.
The program will allow fellows to earn up to $2,500 based on metrics and feedback from their campus community.
About Benedict College
Founded in 1870, Benedict College is rapidly approaching its 150thyear of providing high quality academic programs to students who desire to pursue their program of study in a diverse academic environment. While its history is laudable, Benedict’s present focus and strategic trajectory are its priority.
Benedict College is a BEST in class academic institution that offers its students transformative academic programs, in an innovative, technology enhanced, student focused, culturally sensitive learning environment. The College is committed to preparing students to enter the global marketplace with exceptional cultural and professional competencies that will enable them to contribute to the sustainability and economic growth of their communities.
For eight straight years, Benedict College has been ranked one of the top baccalaureate colleges in the nation by Washington Monthly Magazine for creating social mobility and producing cutting-edge scholarship and research. Benedict offers 24 high demand academic programs, including, Computer Science, Engineering, Cyber Security, Mass Communication, Sport Management, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Biology and Education. Moreover, over the past ten years, sixty (60%) of BC alumni have pursued graduate or professional study.
In addition to its academic programs, Benedict College is home to a standard-setting Career Pathways Program that is strategically designed to prepare Benedict College students for success in a rapidly changing, highly competitive and technology driven workplace. The Program’s mission is to transform student scholars into focused, highly skilled critical thinkers, who are experts in their field of study and, more importantly, are intellectually adept and resilient enough to assume jobs that do not yet exist!
About The Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions
The Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions brings together researchers and practitioners from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions. The Center’s goals include: elevating the educational contributions of MSIs; ensuring that they are a part of national conversations; bringing awareness to the vital role MSIs play in the nation’s economic development; increasing the rigorous scholarship of MSIs; connecting MSIs’ academic and administrative leadership to promote reform initiatives; and strengthening efforts to close educational achievement gaps among disadvantaged communities. For further information about the Center, please visit www.gse.upenn.edu/cmsi
About The Whether
The Whether is a recruitment marketing platform that helps university recruiters build and nurture diverse talent pipelines. It recommends diverse candidates to employers through employer-generated career content that is targeted to students based on their soft-skills, strengths, and values. Our values-based approach and automated content marketing engine saves companies 75% of recruiting spend while personalizing the candidate experience at scale. Based in St. Louis, we’re on a mission to scale career education for all college students and make recruiting them easier. For further information about the Whether, please visit check.thewhether.com.
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