'Alternative Spring Break' Gives Companies, Engineering Students Chance to Meet

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College of Engineering students and staff stop for a group photo at Phillips Medisize in Maumelle.

Job opportunities are plentiful, and engineering graduates are in high demand, but it's still important for students to investigate companies that will be the best fit for their personalities and career aspirations. These are just a couple of reasons the College of Engineering created Alternative Spring Break, a three-day, all-expense-paid tour of employers held each spring since 2014.

The tour helps companies with recruitment and helps students explore possible careers, said Kelsey Lavigne, the college's director of employer relations.

"Alternative Spring Break is great program because it helps us show students great things companies are doing, and it helps us show employers our amazing students, whose skills and training make them exceptional hires," she said.

The College of Engineering group tours Dassault Falcon Jet in Little Rock.

This year's tour, March 20-22, took 16 students and three staff members to visit six employers: Southwest Power Pool, McClelland Consulting Engineers, Dassault Falcon Jet, Little Rock Port Authority, Dillard's and Phillips Medisize, all in the Little Rock area.

The tour organizers get great feedback from both sides, Lavigne said.

Honors computer science student Pranav Mahesh said the trip was one of the best experiences he's had through the College of Engineering.

"We had a lot of fun going to different companies and getting to see how each one of them relied on engineers and their tools to function on a daily basis, even though most of them aren't really an engineering-based company," he said. "Along with that, the feeling of going to different places with a bunch of other engineering students was really new to me, and personally I loved getting to know them."

Donna Graham, director of Central Arkansas Industry and Community Engagement, said the trip provided a great insider perspective on Arkansas employers.

"It was unbelievable to see the massive industry operations taking place right here in Arkansas," she said. "We have everything from jet construction to medical manufacturing to fashion retailing taking place in central Arkansas. Our students are fortunate to have a wide range of thriving businesses eager to hire engineers."

This year's Alternative Spring Break was the first since 2019 because of cancelations during the pandemic.