By Olivia Consuelo Ramos
Staff Writer
The College launched a new student resource in October called Paw Print, a free online tool that allows students to record their extracurricular activities and engagements outside of classes. It also gives students pointers on how to present their skillset to employers based on their campus involvement.
“What we wanted to do was figure out a way for students to tell their story about their experiences with their student organizations, with research they might be doing or with different organizations that they’re a part of on campus,” said Avani Rana, director of co-curricular and leadership development.
Paw Print creates a transcript of extracurriculars that can be added to a LinkedIn account for professionals to be able to view. The transcript is not currently planned to be linked to Handshake.
Rana said Paw Print was an idea that came from the College’s strategic years-long plan, which included the department of co-curricular and leadership development. A team including members from co-curricular and leadership development, student affairs, enrollment management, academic affairs, branding and information technology, developed the idea and started to bring the software system into existence during the fall of 2023.
Through Paw Print, students can view and select the extracurriculars they have belonged to from a variety of categories. This includes student clubs, internships, community service activities, professional events and on-campus employment. Students can input a position they obtained and the length of time spent in that position.
“Paw Print was created in a way to help students tell their story of what they’re doing outside of the classroom,” said Rana.
The developers of Paw Print created the platform that allows students to organize experience, transferable skills and common languages.
Rana and Lyndsay Barret, associate director of co-curricular and leadership development, largely built the interface and software for the Paw Print platform. Along with them, a committee was created consisting of students and faculty, who worked to offer feedback on its competencies and how it should be created to be accessible to students.
“Personally I think Paw Print will make a great addition to the College Scheduler as it could help enhance LinkedIn or Handshake,” said Simmer Jalef, a sophomore psychology major.
Sophie Frank, a senior psychology major, told The Signal she believes Paw Print is useful for those seeking to further their education.
“I think that Paw Print is a really great way to manage extracurriculars and to keep track of everything you’ve done throughout your college career,” said Frank. “In addition, I find it to be really beneficial, especially for underclassmen looking to attend graduate school so they could include it on their curriculum vitae.”
Students may be inclined to believe their time involved with a student organization or a professional event aren’t noteworthy to employers, according to Rana. However, she said there are many transferable skills students gain from extracurriculars.
The co-curricular and leadership team is planning to update Paw Print and implement additions in its student engagement and event categories, according to Rana.
“There’s a lot of skills that come from organizing and being part of a group and a lot of students may be like, ‘Yeah I’m just a member of an organization,’ but there are skill sets that come from being an active member or being a part of an e-board,” Rana said.
