Henry Street Students Get a Peek into Life at Google
By Nicole Fogarty
Googlers Rebecca Waters, Evin Brinker, Hope Rhodeman, Faisal Animashaun, Nicholas Capalbo, Dan Mechanic, and Gabriela Berroa with Expanded Horizons students at Google NYC on February 18, 2020.
If you searched Google on February 18 for Henry Street’s Expanded Horizons College Success program students, you’d fine them not online but visiting the company’s New York City headquarters. Two dozen young people, from 10th graders to college students, were treated to an intimate look at this corporate behemoth to see what a career at Google could be like.
After taking a tour of the building, which spans an entire city block in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and houses some 3,000 employees, students joined five Google employees in one of the company’s sleek conference rooms for a career panel and networking lunch, designed to expose the Henry Streeters to different career options within the company.
“We do tours like this because we want to offer opportunities to learn in the real world as well as in the classroom,” says Expanded Horizons Program Director Malika Harris. “At Expanded Horizons, we like to say college and career in the same breath, so an event like this is instrumental in exposing students to career options they may not have been aware of.”
Googlers Hope Rhodeman, a sales representative; engineers Dan Mechanic, Nicholas Capalbo, and Faisal Animashaun; and Gabriela Berroa, a sales strategist, doled out a mix of professional and life advice, covering topics like work-life balance, overcoming imposter syndrome, coding languages, and tips for interviewing. Students were surprised to learn that the average applicant applies more than one time before being hired, and that interview processes vary greatly in time and setup based the position.
“Something like 1.3 million people apply to Google, and only 3 percent get hired, so you’ve got to shoot your shot!” said Berroa, eliciting laughs from the group.
Students questioned the panelists about their career paths, how much college majors matter, the pros and cons of working for a huge company like Google, and even philosophical issues about technology and its impact on the world.
High school sophomore Alex, for instance, asked how each panelist’s perception of technology had changed since they started to work at Google. After thinking for a few minutes, Berroa shared that she is more aware of the implicit biases that go into creating tech based on who has a seat at the table. Animashaun explained how he has realized that the actions of big companies like Google are often the result of the collective actions of the individuals that work there.
In addition to offering career exploration activities like trips and tours, Expanded Horizons includes college counseling and scholarships; SAT prep; college visits; academic support and coaching; and college readiness workshops with an emphasis on identity, social justice and community service. Its unique eight-year cohort model ensures that students are supported throughout the college process, from ninth grade through college graduation.
