Speakers: Rob Lake
Rob Lake: Hello and welcome. It's great to see you all Global Citizen Year scholars and alums. My name is Rob Lake and I'm the CEO and co-founder of Boulevard. I'm so excited to introduce you to our program and to this partnership between Boulevard and Global Citizen Year at our core, what we do is we prepare you for careers across a wide range of different industries with the biggest and best companies and organizations and networks in the world. And mentorship is the framework that guides all of those pathways and that success. I wanna tell you a little bit about the importance of mentorship. My senior year of college, I was at Williams. I was playing soccer after a game. We had just beaten Amherst. Everybody was thrilled. And this alum from Williams, the class of 1972 came up to me after the game and said, hey, Rob, what are you doing next year? And uh at the time back in the uh late eighties, early nineties, you didn't have the same internships. You didn't have the same process. You didn't have the same competitiveness that you do. Now. Long story short, he got me my first job at the world's biggest advertising agency in New York City. And he became a mentor for years at each step. Along the way, I've had extraordinary mentors, men and women from a wide range different backgrounds who have helped to guide me, who have been my cheerleader, who have opened up doors for me, who have given me opportunities, who've given me advice, who occasionally kicked me in the pants when I've needed it. My mentors have helped to shape me to where I am today. And that is one of the things that we do at Boulevard for our partners.
Rob Lake: Let me tell you about what your experience would be like as a Boulevard scholar. This program is open to sophomores, juniors, seniors and young professionals. One year out of college, there are four main components to this program. There's a learning curriculum that is extraordinarily interesting and relevant to your lives. Anything around, what are the different types of careers that are out there? What are the pathways to get into these careers? What are the cheat codes to make sure that you're able to get into the best organizations, interviewing skills, personal branding exercises, mental health exercises, all sorts of things that you need to thrive in your life. The second component is all around the peer to peer network. We have a world class, unsurpassed group of boulevard scholars with students from not just all around the United States, but also from around the world. And those peer to peer relationships are things that are going to sustain you for your lives. The third piece are these only boulevard experiences, things that you'll be able to do as an exclusive elite boulevard scholar that you would never get access to otherwise things like access to the new York Stock Exchange during an IP O going to a NASCAR race, getting to be involved with small CEO round tables, all sorts of things that are going to be transformative to your life. And then the fourth component, the most important piece is you will get access to a mentor and teams of mentors who are coming from the world's most interesting and best companies and organizations that mentorship. What we've been talking about is critical in your ability to access the best and most interesting opportunities.
Rob Lake: So you must be wondering how do you apply and who's eligible? And what are the criteria? Again, as I mentioned earlier, this program is open to sophomores, juniors, seniors and young professionals scholars from global citizen year who have just graduated from college. Our our university, our expectation is that you are a strong academic student and that you are deeply involved in either your school community or your local community, that you are somebody of character, integrity and substance. We are really focused on a broad range of scholars, a diverse group of scholars, young men and women who are passionate about making a difference now and looking to transform and improve the world based on their work. We're looking for young people who are willing to commit to this program. The time commitment is not large, but the things that we do together are extraordinarily organized and well prepared and fun. And so we expect that boulevard scholars are committed to this program. I really encourage you to apply information about application is on our website and will also be provided to you subsequent to this video. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are looking to launch our fall cohort for 2023 October 15th, you might get a little bit of an extension, but I urge you if you are interested to apply. Now, take some time with your application. Let us know about who you are. Let us know what your passions are. Let us know what your interests are. Let us know what you will bring to the Boulevard Network because again, this peer to peer network is something that we take very seriously. And it's also something that you will find extraordinarily beneficial to you in your lives. Good luck. And I hope to see you soon.
