As an undergraduate at Rice, Lidya Osadchey ’81 was offered every opportunity to learn, achieve and make a difference in the world. Now, as CEO of ESCAPE Family Resource Center, an organization that works to prevent child abuse through support programs and education, she feels compelled to channel her experience and knowledge back to the Rice students who are following in her footsteps.
"We owe it to the next generation of Rice alums," Osadchey says. "We were taught and given the best knowledge and the best models of interaction and excellence. It just seems natural that it would be upon us to set it free to the next generation."
Through the Owl Edge Externship program, a joint-effort between Development and Alumni Relations and the Center for Career Development, Osadchey welcomed Dylan Dickens ’18 to spend a day learning about and experiencing the inner workings of a nonprofit organization. Dickens, an anthropology major unsure of his future career track, was grateful for this new opportunity provided through the Initiative for Students. As one way to get involved with Rice, the Initiative encourages alumni to engage with students as career mentors.
During the Owl Edge Externship pilot this past spring, 129 Rice students connected with Rice alumni across Houston and the country to explore various professions and build professional networking skills.
For many students who participated, the experience was enlightening as they chart their courses for the summer and after graduation.
"It really made a difference in my life," says Dickens, whose day at ESCAPE was one of three externships he experienced during the pilot program, which also sent him to the state capitol in Austin and a local municipal law firm. "It has made it incredibly easy for me to weigh my career choices more heavily."
I’m thrilled that Rice is accepting such smart, caring and deeply thoughtful people
At ESCAPE Family Resource Center, Osadchey ensured that Dickens had an opportunity to be hands-on and involved with her daily work, rather than simply a passive observer. She intentionally invited him to a day packed with meetings, conference calls and other routine tasks, to ensure the student would see a balanced cross-section of her job. Dickens participated in meetings and edited a workbook, which allowed him to provide feedback from his own unique perspective.
"I gained a lot of life skills in terms of how to run things, how to be an effective CEO and what it really looks like to work for a nonprofit," Dickens says. More important than that, though, are the discussions he had with Osadchey. "I learned what kind of outlook you have to have on life in order to really enjoy yourself in that kind of career. It allowed me to say, 'I look at the world in the same way. Maybe I would also enjoy being in this position.'"
Osadchey was, of course, happy to have some editing help, but the benefits to her went beyond the work Dickens completed. Through the externship, she was able to reconnect more deeply with her alma mater.
"I don’t meet a lot of students from Rice," she says. "It turned out to be a great, great pleasure."
The experience was also meaningful to her as a professional in a career she cares about deeply.
"The benefit is very selfish," she says. "I conveyed some important knowledge to this young man, and he will bring it into the community. That’s the greatest benefit to me — the satisfaction, the feeling that we contributed something to maybe the next CEO of a nonprofit."