Alumni Event 2022

Posted on 22 March 2022

Language and Linguistic Science alumni participate in the LLS Alumni Event 2022

On Thursday 10 March 2022 the Department of Language and Linguistic Science hosted its annual Alumni Event ‘What can you do with a degree in Language and Linguistics?’ to showcase to current students the range of different career paths open to language and linguistics graduates.

For the event, LLS alumni Elisabeth Fritzsch, Selin Blanco and Tom Fitz-Hugh, returned ‘virtually’ to York to share their experiences and to present how their degree helped them to shape their current career paths.

The Alumni Event 2022’s guest speakers were:

Elisabeth Fritzsch (2017 BA Linguistics and Mathematics), Knowledge Engineer for Amazon Alexa

Selin Blanco (2020 BA French and Italian), English Language Teacher at Globally Speaking

Tom Fitz-Hugh (2010 BA English Language and Linguistics), Language and Communication Research Masters student at Cardiff University

Prior to the event, short introductory video presentations were made available to students who were also encouraged to submit questions for the speakers about their career journeys.

On the day, UG and PG students representing a range of degrees and years of study joined a lively Zoom Q&A session to listen and chat with our panel of invited speakers.

"It was great to get back to the department (even if only virtually!) to share my career experience and it was also interesting to hear what other alumni have gotten up to - I hope it can help other students interested in a similar path to mine!” - Elisabeth Fritzsch, LLS Alumni

"It was a pleasure to reconnect with the department and reflect on what I have learnt from my career in EFL. It felt very rewarding to be able to give students the benefit of hindsight, without them having to make the same mistakes. Graduating from university into the big, wide world is always a difficult transition, so I hope I was able to make the journey a little smoother for someone." - Tom Fitz-Hugh, LLS Alumni

“It’s a real pleasure for myself and my fellow careers coordinators to organise our department’s alumni event each year. It’s a great opportunity for students to learn about the wide range of careers that they can pursue with a degree in Linguistics or Languages, and to hear about the valuable experiences of our past graduates when it comes to moving from university to the job market. It’s also a really rewarding experience for us as staff to invite our graduates back, and to hear about their success since their time at York and how their studies have helped them in their chosen career paths.” - Dr George Bailey, Lecturer in LLS and Careers and Employability Coordinator

Poster of the event: LLS Alumni Event 2022