While some students may enjoy their hometown or the beach during Spring Break, UNC Asheville’s Career Center offers something a little different. And, as an added bonus, this adventure helps students discover their post-graduation path.
The annual Spring Break Career Trek, completely free to students, offers a chance to experience the culture of an interesting city, meet with talented alumni and potential employers, and make memories with their Bulldog peers.
“A big takeaway for the students is just to dream big, see some really amazing things that other alumni are doing, and see that they could potentially do those amazing things too,” said Lauren DeHaan, associate director for career education in the Career Center.
For the first time, STEAM Studio partnered with the Career Center to take 11 students to Silicon Valley and San Francisco. The students gained insight into careers in engineering and technology during visits to innovative companies Apple, Tesla, Dolby, and Navier.
At Apple, students met Maegan Spencer ’03, who has a decade’s experience in product design for technology like the Apple Watch.
Junior Noah Frederick, a mechatronics engineering major in the Joint NCSU/UNCA Engineering Programs, said the trip broadened his understanding of all the possibilities within engineering careers and sparked curiosity in him to explore a new option.
“Our visit to Navier truly captured my imagination. Navier's cutting-edge electric boats represent the pinnacle of sustainable maritime transportation,” Frederick said. “I am now determined more than ever to contribute to the advancement of sustainable transportation solutions through software innovation in this field.”
Trevor Goldston, a senior mechatronics engineering major in the Joint NCSU/UNCA Engineering Programs, said the trip helped him discover what college experience would stand out on a resume.
“Three of the four organizations we visited highlighted how much they respected Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) and emphasized the value of SAE as a collegiate extracurricular activity,” Goldston said. “Armed with this new information, I’ve decided that I’ll devote all my efforts to advancing UNC Asheville’s Formula SAE team.”
While there, the students get to enjoy the sights, from taking electric scooters across the Golden Gate Bridge to riding in the iconic cable cars, and even jumping into the freezing Pacific Ocean.
“We gained an enhanced world perspective, which one simply could not grasp without experiencing it first hand,” Goldston said.
“I would consider this trip to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I am grateful to attend a school that encourages and invests in its students!”
Also during this year’s Spring Break, the Career Center took 12 students to New York City, where they could explore possible careers and get a glimpse of what living in the city could be like after graduation.
This trip was centered around careers in the arts, so students spent a whole day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with alumna Tiffany Sen ’93, chief procurement officer and head of financial operations.
While most of the students on the trip were majoring in a form of art — nearly half were photography majors — the trip provided opportunities across disciplines. One of the students, Josef Kalna, is a senior mathematics major who sought to find intersections between career fields. Sen herself has an accounting background but found she was more suited to working in procurement at the Met.
“One thing that was made very clear to students was there was no set path, and there was no reason to be confined to working within a major."
Several careers can come from a liberal arts degree,” said Murryn Payne, senior English major.
Students got a glimpse of potential careers when they visited employers like Hearst Communications, met with alumna and Program Officer Kelly Olshan ’15 at New York Foundation of the Arts, and learned about fellowships at the Public Theater. They also met with admissions at NYU to learn about graduate programs.
“That gave me amazing networking opportunities and skills that I had never had before,” said Margaret Priest, senior art history major. “I made some professional connections that I really value. Also some local connections through UNC Asheville alumni that now live in New York City but still know people in the Asheville area.”
Priest, and another student on the trip, CJ Long, were inspired to start a networking club for arts students Community Arts Networking Society (CANS) after the trip.
Alumni working in the city like Jethro Waters ’13, Emmy award-winning filmmaker, and Allie Haake ’07, owner of her own communications firm, also met and networked with the students.
Haake went on a similar trip through the Career Center to New York City while she was an undergraduate, a trip that she said helped confirm her desire to move there. Caleb Johnson, senior photography major, said the trip held a similar purpose.
“It's been a lifelong dream of mine to come here because I’m interested in fashion,” Johnson said. “ I’m over the moon to be here and thank you to the Career Center!”
© 2026 UNC Asheville
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