Beyond the Resume: How Internships and Student Activity Solve Identity Confusion and Lead to Stronger Career Outcomes
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM (EDT)
E-266 (2nd Floor)
University students with disabilities often face career paralysis; however, Erikson’s term identity synthesis provides a lens to help practitioners understand, and work through it. Identity Synthesis, which is integrating past experiences, current abilities, and future goals into a unified self, provides the perfect framework to solve this. Internships offer vital off-campus professional exploration, on-campus student activities serve as equally powerful identity validation. Leading a student club, joining a committee, or organizing campus events allows students to test leadership styles, discover core values, and build confidence safely. By framing both experiential learning and campus involvement as a modern "psychosocial moratorium," this presentation shows university educators how all-inclusive engagement helps students combat the role confusion, synthesize their personal and professional identities, and graduate with a clear career path and purpose.
Truett Vaigneur, York College; Lisa Maycock, York College