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Going the Extra MILE for Career Success in 2023

The annual Mitchell Institute Leadership Experience II reconvenes at Unum to provide Scholars and Alumni with career development opportunities

By Mitchell Institute

March 30^th, 2023

Striving for career success has long been a key feature of the Mitchell Scholar culture and experience.

Scholars know that to distinguish themselves in a competitive labor market they must complement their classroom learning with real-world experience acquired through internships and knowledge gained through informational interviews with practitioners. To help Scholars learn how to navigate the career development process as well as form the networks that can yield internship and career opportunities, the Mitchell Institute Alumni Council (MIAC) organizes the annual Mitchell Institute Leadership Experience (MILE) II in March.

Delayed a week this year by an early March nor’easter that dropped more than eight inches of snow in Portland, MILE II was once again generously hosted by our longtime, loyal supporters at Unum. Guided by the theme that the Mitchell Institute helps Scholars “Cultivate, Bloom, and Flourish” in their careers, MILE II provided 50 Mitchell Scholars and young Alumni with opportunities to meet with business leaders from across Maine, watch a live Scholars Speak interview with Charis Loveland ’98, and attend interactive breakout sessions focused on timely career development topics.

Going the Extra MILE for Career Success in 2023

Keynote Takeaway: The Importance of Finding and Valuing the “Space In Between”

The daylong MILE II program kicked off with a keynote address by Cary Olson Cartwright (above), Assistant Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Unum, who recounted some sage advice from the Institute’s founder, Senator George J. Mitchell.

Olson Cartwright began by having each attendee take a nickel from a tray. She then asked Scholars and Alumni to give the five-cent coin a close look, noting heads (Thomas Jefferson) on one side and tails (Monticello) on the other. Then she shared how the Senator once used a nickel to explain how he worked with leaders from across the aisle to shape the policies and statutes that guide our nation and our lives.

“The coin has two sides, heads and tails, just like two sides of an argument. A yes side and a no side,” she said. “The Senator said that the far more important part of the coin is the middle — the space in between the two opposing sides. That is where we find compromise and solutions. That is where I encourage all of us to operate with each other.”

A Live Episode of Scholars Speak

Among the newest offerings on Apple Podcasts and Spotify is Scholars Speak, the podcast of the Mitchell Institute. Launched in fall 2022 by host Michele Martin, the 1999 Mitchell Scholar from Scarborough High School, the podcast episodes feature discussions with Mitchell Scholar Alumni about their experience as Scholars and career paths. For MILE II, Martin switched things up a bit by hosting a live Scholars Speak interview with Charis Loveland, the 1998 Scholar from Bonny Eagle High School, 2002 graduate of Bates College, and now Global Program Manager at Amazon Web Services (specializing in artificial intelligence and machine learning). Before a rapt audience (including her father and daughter), Loveland shared why she believes emotional intelligence is the key to gaining personal and professional success, the importance of understanding brain chemistry and how to increase the production of key hormones that support happiness, and ways to develop and boost self-confidence in the face of stressful situations.

Loveland also encouraged attendees to identify and maintain “sustaining practices,” e.g., "the things that allow me to perform at the highest level I'm capable of" — in her case walks in the Maine woods, doing yoga, and being a curious and voracious reader.

“My best advice is to establish what those sustaining practices look like for yourself so that you can grow and flourish,” Loveland said, “That might be a yoga practice, a breathing technique or meditation practice, or an exercise routine.”

In addition to promoting optimal mental health and happiness, Loveland said these activities also provide space for “self-awareness and checking in with your feelings,” adding, “that allows you to objectively label your feelings and better understand where you are (emotionally) at that point.”

A Topical Menu of Breakout Sessions

Scholars and Alumni next headed to self-selected breakout sessions: Nurturing Relationships in Your Career, Cultural Competencies for Young Professionals, Navigating Your Early Career (a primer on understanding compensation and taking full advantage of one's benefits package), and Stress Management and Burnout Prevention Strategies.

The Value of 'Intellectual Humility' and 'TLLM'

During two rounds of breakout sessions, Scholars and Alumni received no shortage of practical, actionable advice on everything from the merits of creating an equitable and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive to how to research market-based salaries to the importance of self-care and supportive self-talk in stress management.

Two pearls of wisdom emerged from the Nurturing Relationships in Your Career sessions that bear repeating.

Elyse Pratt-Ronco, Assistant Director of Upward Bound at the University of Maine at Farmington and a member of the Mitchell Institute’s Board of Directors (pictured above), encouraged Scholars and Alumni to approach their relationships with “intellectual humility” — not just an understanding that they don’t know everything, but also a genuine curiosity about and openness to the knowledge held by others.

Pratt-Ronco said one of the best ways to practice intellectual humility is to remember to “TLLM”: talk less and listen more.

Picture Time

Developing and maintaining a professional presence on LinkedIn (Scholars’ preferred social media channel for networking and career-related connection) requires a professional-looking headshot. Given that attendees were already gussied up for the occasion, what better place to have a professional headshot taken than MILE II?

Professional photographer Ashley Bosse, the 2019 Mitchell Scholar from Wisdom Middle/High School and senior Psychology and Marketing major at the University of Southern Maine, was on hand to do the honors during the MILE II lunch break. She received a fellowship from the Mitchell Institute to support her photography career and gladly accepted the opportunity to provide a free portrait session to MILE II attendees.

The Ever-Popular Employer Expo

Primed for networking success after the morning sessions, Scholars and Alumni headed for the Employer Expo, featuring representatives from Maine’s leading businesses and organizations — all eager to dispense advice and answer questions about career and internship opportunities.

A Scholar-Alum Gives MILE II a Sterling Endorsement

For Noah Aube (above), a Software Engineer from Tyler Technologies who staffed an Employer Expo table for the national provider of public-sector software solutions, making himself available to current Scholars was a way to pay it forward. After all, he credits MILE II for helping him land his current position — and said as much in this sterling endorsement of the event that appears on his LinkedIn page:

“I’m posting to encourage everyone to attend the upcoming MILE II event. A few years back I attended this event as a recent college graduate. I was able to meet fellow Mitchell Alumni who put Tyler Technologies on my radar and helped to get my resume into the right hands. This year, I’m excited to attend the event not just as a Mitchell Alum, but as a representative of Tyler! MILE II is a great opportunity to expand your network and to make important steps in your career. I look forward to seeing you all there!”

Making Time for a TV Interview

News Center Maine reporter Chloe Teboe stopped by Unum to see what Scholars and Alumni were up to at MILE II, and Scholars Lauren Turcotte Seavey (2019, Bangor High School) and Brian Ishema (2021, Deering High School) obliged her with answers in a televised interview.

Watch the News Center Maine story

By Day's End, Scholars Shared Some Lofty Thoughts

Alumni Council member Michelle Henaire, the 2012 Mitchell Scholar from Thornton Academy, 2015 graduate from the University of Maine at Farmington, and Consumer Underwriter at Kennebunk Savings Bank, led participants through the closing exercise: writing down a key takeaway from the day, balling up the paper, tossing it in the air, and offering participants the chance to pick up and read aloud the lasting thoughts.

A Closing Note of Gratitude

MILE II wouldn’t be possible without the countless hours of work done by the event’s organizers, the members of the Mitchell Institute Alumni Council. Several MIAC members attended on Saturday, March 11, to help facilitate, including Denise Desrochers ’99, Wendy Gibbs ’12, Kayla Girardin ’13, Michelle Henaire ’12, Sierra Kuun ’13, Nicholas LaJoie ’14, and Elliot Simpson ’14.

An event’s environs play a key role in its success, and thanks to our generous hosts at Unum we could have no finer venue than their headquarters in Portland (or a tastier lunch!).

The keynote address sets the tone for the day, and the wisdom shared by Cary Olson Cartwright, Assistant Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Unum, continues to resonate.

Sparked by thoughtful questions from Scholars Speak host Michele Martin ’99, interviewee Charis Loveland ’98 gave us much food for thought.

For our engaging breakout sessions, we have the following presenters to thank: Megan Hageney (DEI Fellow, Heart of Biddeford), Kate Harrigan (Director of Human Resources, Western MaineHealth), Nate Kinney ’08 (Institute Board Member and Assistant Director, Strategic Workforce Planning, Ernst & Young), Julianne McLaughlin ’14 (Coordinator of Suicide Prevention, NAMI of Maine), and Elyse Pratt-Ronco (Institute Board Member and Assistant Director of Upward Bound, the University of Maine at Farmington).

Our special guests of the day included Sean Findlen ’95, AVP of Enterprise Communications at Unum, and Institute Board member Brian Harris ’07, CEO & Founder of MedRhythms.

And, finally, our Employer Expo, which helps position Scholars and Alumni to strengthen the state’s workforce, wouldn’t be possible without the support of the following businesses and organizations, several of which were represented by Mitchell Scholar Alumni (as noted in parentheses):