Students have mixed opinions after first READY Day

On Sep. 24, 2025, Otterbein had its first annual READY Day. Otterbein created this new all-day event designed to help students get internships and develop career skills. Students had to attend four events throughout the day, and it is now a requirement to graduate.  

To start READY Day, Otterbein held kickoff events and speakers specific to each year. Throughout the day, there were events running specifically for different majors and classes. To end the long day, there was a cocktail hour for seniors, held at different locations on campus, where specific majors could network with Otterbein alumni in their career field.  

Students had mixed feelings about how the first READY Day went. Brynley Preston, who is a senior public relations major, felt there was a lot of benefit regarding her career path, “I was able to talk to a lot of alumni and companies that are looking for marketing or communications internships that I can benefit from.”  

Maddie Myers, who is a senior nursing major, said, “A lot of the events were geared towards other majors like engineering, business and education. It felt there was not a lot of benefit to nursing majors.”  

A major complaint was the lack of space in not only the 'First Destination Fair' but also the sessions and workshops were often overfilled. This led to many sitting on classroom floors just to hear from the speakers.

Each event spoke differently to everyone, “even though the ‘First Destination Fair’ was beneficial to me, it felt very stressful considering how many students and companies showed up. I felt I couldn’t connect with everyone I wanted,” Preston said.  

Many students enjoyed the freedom to choose which events would be the most beneficial to them. “I did enjoy how the day was set up, we were able to pick what events we wanted to go to and were able to make our own schedule,” Myers said.  

With students’ mixed feelings, READY Day seemed to be beneficial to some majors but not all. Many upperclassmen thought this day was beneficial when it came to finding internships and jobs. While some underclassmen were able to learn more about their major and how to manage the rest of their college career.