Alexandra Sims (SESP ’10) told Northwestern students Thursday night she found it really difficult not being able to participate in the Ferguson protests.

Sims, director of programs at the City of Chicago and a former student activist, knew many protesters because she had worked with Ferguson residents during President Barack Obama’s campaign. Throughout the protest, she received text messages from her friends about what was happening.

“I had to decide, do I go down to Ferguson right now and help my friends, will I be more helpful there or will I be more helpful doing my job registering voters in Chicago?” she said. “And I don’t think I would’ve been very effective help trying to run a movement back in that community.”

Sims was one of five Northwestern alumni who spoke Thursday night about activism after graduation and in the workplace at an event hosted by the Department of Campus Inclusion and Community at the Segal Visitors Center.

Noor Hasan (Weinberg ‘14), who now works as an inclusive diversity management consultant for Allstate Insurance, said transitioning out of NU was difficult for her because she had to get used to work in a new space.

She said students are “customers” of the University because they’re paying for a service and if they feel uncomfortable with something, they can complain and act about it. At a job, she said, it’s harder to do that because you are getting paid.

“You are the one with a performance review, you’re getting held to standards, so it’s a different dynamic,” she said. “So getting used to that, coming to terms with sometimes leaving my politics at the door was challenging.”

Dallas Wright (Medill ‘12), a communications coordinator at Inner-City Muslim Action Network, said to him the toughest challenge after graduation was recognizing the value and meaning of a NU degree.

“I didn’t really understand how much is expected,” he said. “You’re kind of immediately thrust into leadership opportunities that other people … aren’t.”

The panelists discussed how they continue their activism work in their new careers.

Corey Winchester (SESP ’10), a history and social sciences teacher at Evanston Township High School, said students at ETHS students are active in their community and by working there he gets an access to that.

“I don’t necessarily think I’ve had to lose my politics at the door,” he said.

He added teachers are sometimes told their only role is to teach and not have an opinion, a view he disagrees with.

“We all have our own opinions and when you inform your students of that from the get-go, they kinda know what to expect, and we encourage that,” he said.

Jonathan Li, a McCormick senior and former Daily staffer, said he came to the event to learn more about diverse speakers’ experiences after college.

“I wanted to see what challenges they navigated in the workspace in order to promote change in the workplace,” he said.

Michele Enos, Campus Inclusion and Community’s assistant director and one of the event’s organizers, said when picking the panelists, organizers were looking for a diverse group of alumni who represented different aspects of activism.

“We were really intentional about trying to pick students who you think about (when you think of) activism,” she said. “You think people who are very visible and out there but also getting students who are very involved … who are behind the scenes.”

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Twitter: @marianaa_alfaro