UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Education will hold an IMPACT Summit which will allow students to explore a variety of career paths and leadership opportunities an education degree can provide them with people currently working in those fields.
The experience aims for students to leave with a clearer understanding of the breadth of human impact careers available to them, stronger confidence in aligning their interests with meaningful career pathways, and a deeper sense of themselves as leaders capable of shaping change within their communities and professions.
“IMPACT stands for ‘Inspiring Minds and Policy Action Change and Teaching,’” explained Krishawna Goins, recruitment and student engagement officer for the College of Education. “It’s really meant to be a student-centered day that’s focused on leadership and impact. So, what we’ve found is that students graduate really prepared to go out into the world and do their chosen job, but not necessarily as prepared to lead or to think about what they might do to be contributors within their community. It’s a whole-day conference that’s focused on just that.”
The event will run from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 22, inside Chambers Building on the University Park campus. The event is open to all students, regardless of major, including those who may come on the day of the event without registering. Students who wish to register for the event can do so using the online registration form.
Goins — a former classroom teacher and College of Education alumna — said when she first had the idea, she was hoping alumni would express an interest in being part of the event and giving forward in their time and expertise. It didn’t take long to find out it would be more than that.
“We put the call out to alumni, and the response was overwhelming,” Goins said. “Some of the topics we’ll be covering are things like wellness and sustainability for education professionals. We’ll be thinking about policy systems and leadership pathways. And we’re going to be thinking about practice innovation and career growth. As a college of changemakers, this event feels like the perfect extension of our everyday work!”
She pointed out that one particular aspect that makes this different from a job fair or a typical professional learning conference is the focus on long-term career and life planning for students, both within and beyond the teaching profession, to explore policy, advocacy, and human services and care professions.
Goins said the hope is that this work helps students, both within the College of Education and those who engage with the college from across the University, see that pursuing a human impact career is not only worthwhile but critically important. She said it affirms that students can align their passions with their purpose and career path, achieve meaningful success, and create lasting transformation in the lives of others and their own through a deeper understanding of their emotional, professional, and financial well-being.
Ultimately, Goins said, the goal is to cultivate a culture of lifelong learning that extends beyond the classroom, empowering students to continue growing, leading and making an impact long after graduation.
“I think what’s really cool is that we have speakers who are coming from across industry,” Goins said. “So, it’s not just people who are coming from working in the classroom. It’s people that we’ve seen work in the corporate space. It’s people who work for different departments in the policy space and human service professionals who help students think more broadly about their impact. So, I think it’s going to give our students a different perspective than what they hear every day, which is going to be really helpful.”
She said that members of the Education Student Council have enthusiastically supported the effort and have been working with Goins to make this bigger and better than similar programs held in the past.
“Our vice president of Education Student Council, Sloan Cordon, has been my partner in this and really been a sounding board for me as to what students want to see and how we can build something truly meaningful,” Goins said. “What do they need? And how do we balance what feels urgent to students right now with all the competencies, skills and mindsets that we know and have learned as practitioners. This is the best part of the work that this office empowers me to do alongside students every day — finding new ways to push them to grow as learners and leaders! So, for me, working with her on bringing this to life has been a powerful triangulation of a lot of things.”
The closing keynote will be delivered by the 2025 National Teacher of the Year, Ashlie Crosson, who obtained her master’s degree from the College of Education.
Goins said the program is growing every day with new opportunities for students coming to fruition.
“This is an opportunity for you to come and understand what you can do to have an impact not only on the lives of people around you, but also on communities at large,” she said. “So, I think this is a really impactful opportunity to show you who we are and what we mean when we say, ‘changing education by educating for change.’”