Partly Cloudy, 64°
Yesterday’s career fair was filled with ambitious Brown students working to secure themselves successful lives after college and a lone mother who spoke to a lot of very smart and very powerful people who may help her son out one day.
“My son is too humble for these sorts of things,” said Julia Mitchell, mother of Derrick Mitchell ’12. “He doesn’t even talk about his achievements to his own mother, but I have to assume that he’s president of about 50 student groups. Then I have to relay that assumption as fact to every person at this career fair.”
Julia drove three hours to attend the career fair, which was only a 10-minute walk from her son’s off-campus apartment. “Derrick had other things to do today. He’s very busy,” she said. “Did you know that he attends an Ivy League university? This university. Brown. Brown is in the Ivy League.”
For Julia, coming to campus meant ignoring her son’s repeated requests that she stay at home. “Derrick is independent to a fault,” she said. “He’s fought against my offers to help him apply for internships every summer since he’s been at Brown. He’s fought hard, but he’s relented.”
Defying her son was a small sacrifice that may result in an enormous payoff, Julia says. During her visit to the career fair, she met dozens of high-powered employers who learned not only her son’s name but also his first words, what he dressed up as for Halloween in the second grade and that, should they decide to hire him, they should go easy on him because he’s sensitive.
“Everybody wanted to hear more about Derrick,” she said. “He has this aura about him that makes people want to get to know him. He wasn’t with me, though, so I had to bring a photo album to represent the aura.”
One Merrill Lynch representative was very impressed by Julia’s son. “Mitchell sounded like a real whiz-kid,” said Scott Rourke, vice president of employee development. “He learned how to ride a two-wheel bike when he was only six, which demonstrates the drive and initiative we’re looking for.”
Several other employers seemed excited to communicate with Derrick and his mother about employment opportunities in the near future. “What I learned is that these people are looking for someone who is different,” said Julia. “And taking a shower, putting on a clean shirt and leaving your apartment to attend a job fair rather than sending your mother isn’t different at all.”
A recruiter from Intel seemed particularly interested in offering Derrick a full-time job immediately following graduation. “He was looking for somebody with advanced knowledge of C++ and experience with multithreaded programming models,” said Julia. “I have no idea what any of that means, but I’m sure that Derrick has those skills. Otherwise, how did he manage to set up my new e-mail account so fast?”
