Kent Place Upper School Economics students spent Wednesday, March 9 at Accenture’s New York City headquarters. Hosted by Ellyn J. Shook, the visit included meetings with female executives and an introduction to their Creativity Lab.

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The field trip included a myriad of activities and opportunities to hear from women at all levels of the company. Students heard from Ms. Shook, who oversees more than 300,000 people as Accenture’s Chief of Leadership and Human Resources. Ms. Shook gave career advice for the girls and presented lessons she’s learned as a professional and as an individual over the course of her 28 years at the company.

The students also had the opportunity to ask in-depth questions at an intergenerational panel. Panel participants Annie Chen, Emily Dorin, Amaya George, Emily Grandjean, Caroline Koppel and Allison Yee offered varying levels of insight as recruiters, executives and team members. The women answered some of the girls’ questions about finding their way to their current positions. Recent college graduates from places like Cornell, Barnard and Northwestern shared how their career paths had gone in different directions than what they had expected. Other women on the panel shared how they balance raising a family and traveling often in their individual careers.

The campus recruiting team of Accenture assisted in organizing this insightful experience for the students, and included Jennifer Burns, Melissa Garcia, Matt Chan, Megan Gilbride and Merilee Martin. Economics teacher Elaine Schwartz was more than pleased with the visit: “Our visit was perfect in every way. The girls learned, they were inspired and had a good time. Every woman, in her own special way, was a role model.”

For more information about academics at Kent Place, visit http://www.kentplace.org/departments.