Organized annually, the Etiquette Dinner brings students the opportunity to learn dining etiquette skills and engage in small networking sessions with different Knox alumni. This year, it was hosted on April 30by The Bastian Family Center for Career Success, teaching students how to create better impressions and enhance networking skills through hands-on experiences.
During the first session, the instructor/Coordinator of Career Development of Carl Sandburg College Tracy Engstrom assisted students with every small step in a meal; from how to use the napkin cloth, to where to put the utensil, and how to navigate conversations. Participants also practiced their skills by dining with other students, with meals provided from the Career Center.
Sophomore Sanskriti Pradhan expressed her contentment with the detailed instruction and said it exceeded her expectations.
“I think the event was really helpful and honestly better than what I expected. The most impressive lesson to me was learning how to use all the utensils. I did not realize how important small details are and how they can affect how people see you,” Pradhan said.
Assistant Director of Programming & Partnerships Lexi Hunter mentioned that the practical experience will be helpful for students, as these skills will be transferred into other professional spaces.
“The things that students are taught at this event will benefit them as they go to different networking events, such as conferences, dinner interviews, or company events,” Hunter said. “With this event being tied to an opportunity to network with other students and visiting alumni, students get to put some networking and communication skills into practice while building new connections.”
After learning table manners, the networking sessions with alumni were what students felt most excited about. Freshman Edward Mai mentioned that it was the reason why he signed up for the event.
“In the first place, I just saw the word alumni networking, and I immediately registered for the event,” Mai said.
Before networking, all students received the book “What Color Is Your Parachute?” written by author Richard N. Bolles as a gift from the Alumni Council. The book guides readers to finding a suitable career path and explains how to pursue it.
Along with interactive games connected to the book message, the conversations became more effective for students to know about different career fields. Mai said that even though alumni are not working in his field of interest, the conversations brought him new perspectives.
“The most memorable thing to me is that I got to talk with Scott, an alumnus working in law, helping businesses establish their rights, ownerships, and equity. I got to see the business from the law’s vision,” Mai said.
The conversation also took a turn for hobbies. Freshman Anh Do, for example, mentioned an alumnus’ excitement when they spoke about football games.
“They [the alumni] are really genuine and showed me how supportive the Knox community is. There was an alumni who is also a Chicago Bears fan like me, so we talked a lot about that. Even after the event, we exchanged emails and he offered me a ticket to come to see the Chicago Bears game,” Do said.
While the event was open for the entire student body, the majority of participants were international students. As other events are coming up for the spring term, Hunter also hopes to see more domestic students join.
“Like the majority of our events, the Etiquette Dinner was open for all students to participate in. However, over the past few years, we have noticed that international students seem to take more advantage of the opportunities and events that we offer compared to domestic students,” said Hunter. “We hope to have more domestic students attend our events in the future, but are grateful to have any kind of student participation.”
