After numerous conversations with QuestBridge Scholars and Alumni, and through our experiences with Quest Leadership, at QB25, on campuses, and in cities across the country, the following five themes continue to resonate deeply with our community: family, relationships, and identity; work and career; wellness and self-care; social impact; money and financial literacy; and community. Each QB Convene event will focus on one, a few, or all of the themes through speakers, breakout sessions, community projects, and more.
We continue to welcome perspectives from all QuestBridge Scholars and Alumni on our themes and ideas for QB Convene. Please share your thoughts by writing us at qbconvene@questbridge.org.
Family, Relationships, and Identity
QuestBridge Scholars and Alumni have unique backgrounds which often differ dramatically from their peers in selective colleges and work environments. As such, you may be exposed to others with different upbringings than your own, or to situations which cause discomfort financially, culturally, or socially.
Faced with these circumstances, a Scholar or Alum can experience periods of deep questioning in their most important relationships, personal identity, and overall sense of belonging. You may face additional internal dilemmas like imposter syndrome, or confusion about deciding between a lucrative career versus one you may be more passionate about.
We hope to explore these dynamics and how they affect you and your life, as well as gain insights from others who have walked in similar shoes. We hope your exploration of these questions can help you take steps towards defining the concepts of identity, family, connection, and belonging that work for you now, and in the future.
Work and Career
For Scholars and Alumni, the array of career-related options, choices, and decisions can be overwhelming. While much is available online or in books about career paths and strategies, how do you know which ones are authentically right for you, given your unique background, circumstances, and responsibilities? This is especially challenging if you are first in your family to contemplate the career paths that are now within your reach. How do you pick a summer internship? How do you negotiate a starting salary? How do you balance financial needs and your own passions? How do you get from point A to point B – and have people taken different, perhaps winding, paths to arrive at the same place?
You will hear from QB Alumni who can share honest insights, struggles, and strategies on topics such as: the relationship between careers and college coursework; how they discuss their backgrounds in job interviews; and how they think about career changes and advancement. These Alumni will come from many fields that represent the wide-ranging interests and passions of QuestBridge Scholars.
Wellness and Self-Care
Sometimes, in our busy and stressful lives, we can simply forget the importance of meeting our own needs for nurturing and self-care. With pressures of school, confusion about career paths, serious responsibilities to families, and possibly feeling disoriented in privileged spaces, QuestBridge Scholars and Alums can find themselves at a tipping point between being “ok” and truly struggling. Also, as “high-achievers,” sometimes Scholars and Alums feel pressure to succeed, and are hard on themselves when they feel they’ve “failed” or “haven’t lived up to their potential.”
We will have important discussions about wellness, well-being, self-care, and health at all levels, including struggles and successes. We also want to have conversations about thriving and what it means – and exploring ways to promote health and well-being as individuals, and as a community of QuestBridge Scholars and Alumni.
Social Impact
Social impact, and giving back, are deep-seated values for many QuestBridge Scholars and Alumni. But it can be a challenge to figure out just how to give back – and when – with all of the other responsibilities in your lives. Should you take a higher-paying job, or one with a lower salary but high returns for you in other ways – such as in your community or in your heart? If you take a community-focused job, how do you bring the best of your skills and education to that work? If you take a higher paying job, are there ways you can have a social impact in your workplace? Can you make an impact outside of work, when you have a full-time work schedule?
QuestBridge Scholars, Alumni, and experts will share ideas, strategies, successes, failures, and lessons learned about making a difference with your life – now and in the future.
Money and Financial Literacy
At QuestBridge, our hope is that you have the financial tools and resources to live well and happily, however you choose to define this, in whatever life path you choose. This may mean having to learn new skills and perspectives about managing your finances at various stages of your life.
In times of change and transition, we have an opportunity to renegotiate our relationships with everything in our lives, including money. What was your relationship with money like in the past, and how will it evolve and change over time? What do you need it to be right now? How about five years from now? Fifteen years from now?
You will have a chance to explore these questions and define the answers for yourselves. In addition, we hope you will find opportunities to build new financial tools, skills, habits, and resources that will support your deepest life goals, now and in the future.
Community
At each QB Convene event, you will have opportunities to connect and get to know the members of our exceptional QuestBridge community. You will have venues to listen to the inspiring stories of others, and to share your own. Whether through one-on-one conversations, small group discussions, affinity groups, or online chats through the conference app, we hope you’ll find many ways to meet new and old QuestBridge connections.