Momentum Program Recap!!

Fortune Avenue’s mission is economic empowerment for students of color, low-income backgrounds, and first generation college students. In the past, we have held in-person programs, workshops, and intensives. But we realized that we weren’t reaching an entire sector of our audience: students that can’t commute to Boston.

The Momentum Program was a 4-session online program spanning over the course of 2 weeks. Led by the former Student Body President of Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, Greg Durgin taught a curriculum focused on building the soft skills needed to advance one’s career. In the past, Greg worked with the Bayar Fellowship which taught low-income highschoolers about the business basics and built a foundation for financial literacy. He took  part of what he learned while volunteering there and adjusted it to fit an online format.

Networking

The program started off with networking, specifically through LinkedIn. Participants got personalized feedback on their profiles, and anyone without an account learned how to set one up. Students also learned how to filter search for school and college alumni, employees at companies they were interested in, and jobs they wanted to know more about.

After learning how to write a cold email and find someone's email using a directory, they brainstormed their best resume points and practiced "selling themselves." Greg also wrote a cold email live and took participant input to show how all emails can be personalized.

Resumes

Students reviewed a resume template from Harvard's Career Center, then broke into groups to build their own. Each student got to present and get live feedback on how to properly leverage their experience. They also learned how to use AI to polish their writing rather than lean on it entirely.

Interviews

Finally, they took a crack at interviews: starting with the difference between behavioral and technical questions. They talked about the do's and don'ts (like not rambling about your dog) and got a chance to practice.

At the end of the program, every student left with a resume, an active LinkedIn profile, and practice in outreach and interviewing. It was a success, and thank you to the participants and Greg Durgin for making it happen!