{"id":67681,"date":"2022-12-05T16:44:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T23:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=67681"},"modified":"2022-12-05T16:46:53","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T23:46:53","slug":"lumberjacks-thrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/lumberjacks-thrive\/","title":{"rendered":"New program pairs students with alumni mentors, helping them thrive in their future careers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madi Kimball<\/span><\/b> knew she wanted a career in film; she just didn\u2019t know where to start.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lost and overwhelmed as her graduation approached, she applied to the Lumberjacks Thrive Externship Program in hopes of finding a mentor who could help guide her.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Facilitated by NAU\u2019s Office of Alumni Engagement and thanks to NAU alumni Greg and Nancy Wilson, whose donation to the NAU Foundation brought this program to life, the Lumberjacks Thrive Program aims to help students apply their learning beyond the classroom and build meaningful relationships in their desired field. The semester-long mentorship pairs an NAU student with an NAU alum and business professional. Students virtually meet with their mentor once a month where they can ask questions, learn about the industry and get familiar with what a career in their field of study is like. Then, thanks to a series of grants and donations, the student gets to meet their mentor and spend multiple days shadowing them in their industry of work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kimball was accepted into the program and paired with alumnus <\/span>Bill Harper<\/span><\/b>, a 1991 graduate of NAU\u2019s theatre program who works in the TV and film industry\u2014the last 11 years of which as an executive producer and writer for <\/span>Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOver the course of the semester, I worked with Bill, asked questions and learned so much about the film industry,\u201d Kimball said. \u201cAs someone familiar with the logistical side of the industry\u2014producing, assistant directing, production coordinating\u2014this experience opened my eyes to television, screenwriting and how the whole pre-production side of things even works.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only did she have the opportunity to formally pitch her capstone film script to Harper, but he walked her through a pitch of his own.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had a little bit of practice pitching in my classes, but getting to see exactly how it works in the real world with a real professional who does this for a living was such an incredible experience.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After months of bonding via Zoom, in May, the program covered the travel and lodging expenses so Kimball could fly to Los Angeles and meet Harper face-to-face.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There she visited studio lots,\u00a0production offices and sets, sat in a writer\u2019s room and met industry professionals she would otherwise have never had the opportunity to meet.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kimball now spends her days reliving that once-in-a-lifetime experience, reminiscing about her time on sets, networking with bigwigs and growing in friendship with Harper.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was genuinely the best weekend ever, and I just wish I could go back.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduating earlier this year, Kimball is still figuring out what her future holds. But one thing is certain: When she gets to Hollywood, whether it be two months or a year from now, it\u2019ll be thanks in part to the Lumberjacks Thrive Externship Program and Harper, her biggest supporter.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am so thankful and grateful for this opportunity because I really don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be without it. It truly was life changing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

If you or someone you know might be interested in an externship opportunity, applications are now open for the Spring 2023 cohort of externs. Majors related to marketing, forestry and the environment, computer science, engineering and studio art are encouraged to apply by <\/span>Dec. 9.<\/span><\/b> Visit the <\/span>Lumberjacks Thrive Externship webpage<\/span><\/a> for more information.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a><\/p>\n

Carly Banks | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5582 | carly.banks@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madi Kimball knew she wanted a career in film; she just didn\u2019t know where to start.\u00a0 Lost and overwhelmed as her graduation approached, she applied to the Lumberjacks Thrive Externship Program in hopes of finding a mentor who could help guide her.\u00a0\u00a0 Facilitated by NAU\u2019s Office of Alumni Engagement and thanks to NAU alumni Greg…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":67683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}