Project Pause will return later this academic year after a successful pilot in 2015, with its founders hoping to expand the post-graduate preparation program in the future.

“What we would like to see happen is this become a more accessible experience for students in SESP and maybe even students outside SESP,” said Fred Tye (SESP ‘13), one of the co-founders of the program.

Project Pause, founded by Tye and Kate McKenzie (SESP ‘13), is a program designed for School of Education and Social Policy seniors to explore their future goals and past college experiences while on a retreat. The weeklong retreat combines reflection with service and leadership development programming.

“The culture of Northwestern, to be honest, is usually looking at what’s next,” Tye said. “It can be kind of difficult to realize that that mindset is happening when you’re in school and how it impacts your thinking.”

Six SESP seniors participated during the pilot year and traveled to Mission: Wolf, a nonprofit wolf sanctuary in Westcliffe, Colorado. The location is remote, so participants had no cell phone access for the duration of their trip, said Fotini Kaufman (SESP ‘16), an alumnus and participant in Project Pause.

Every day, students would participate in a volunteer activity for the sanctuary in addition to group dialogues and reflections, Kaufman said.

“You’re really forced to be in the moment,” Kaufman said. “We would sit by the campfire at night with all the people visiting and just sort of share our own life stories and what we were going through. You realize there are so many people besides Northwestern (students) who are going to their own life crises.”

The program was structured to meet the needs and answer the questions of participants, Tye said. The group engaged in dialogues surrounding a variety of topics including NU’s forward-looking culture, familial expectations, personal goals and their expectations, Tye said.

Megan Redfearn,Tye and McKenzie’s former SESP adviser for the Learning and Organizational Change program, said she helped Tye and McKenzie launch Project Pause. The program gave students a new and refreshing perspective on life after graduation, she said.

“It was really powerful for students,” she said. “They were really able to come back and be thoughtful about their job search.”

The program, which piloted in September last year, was pushed back due to Tye and McKenzie’s busy schedules, Redfearn said. She said she hopes Project Pause will be able to function independently of Tye and McKenzie in the future.

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