Welcome to IPC Pathways
A career exploration program at
Immanuel Presbyterian Church, McLean, VA
What is IPC Pathways?
IPC Pathways is a career exploration program at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, McLean, VA. It is designed to benefit youth and young adults – whom we call seekers — who have a connection to Immanuel, whether or not they are members.
The program has been operated since fall 2017 at Immanuel by The Harraseeket Foundation. Harraseeket is a 501(c)(3) public charity whose mission is to support career exploration programs for communities like Immanuel. The program is operated in consultation with Immanuel’s Spirituality & Learning Committee, Youth Ministry Committee, Immanuel staff and an Immanuel advisory board that includes several seekers.
Learn more about the program at About IPC Pathways.
We have a new Resource Map to direct you to great vocation and career guidance resources!
We’ve launched the Pathways Resource Map! Visit the Resource Map page for links to six Maps for high school students, college students, young adults, mentors, and those interested in financial literacy and theological perspectives. The Maps contain opinionated, annotated, organized guides to books, articles, podcasts, videos and the like. Learn more on the Pathways Resource Map page.
We’ve launched the IPC Pathways Fund to support internships for at-risk students!
We’re excited to announce the formation of the the IPC Pathways Fund! The Fund was created thanks to an Endowment Grant from Immanuel Presbyterian Church. The Fund will make grants, in partnership with Communities in Schools of NOVA, to support low-income, at-risk students who choose internships, and to schools, to enhance career guidance resources available to low-income, at-risk students. Learn more at the IPC Pathways Fund page.
Get Involved
We want everyone at Immanuel to participate in career mentoring conversations. We also need volunteers and donations!
Mentor Spotlight
Some of the mentors in the Immanuel Presbyterian Church Pathways program are sharing the stories of their career paths. Here is one mentor’s story of how she became a small business owner and what landscape design means to her.
Feedback from Seekers and Mentors
My first conversation with my mentor was incredibly organic, supportive, and fun. I learned a valuable perspective from her, that career paths aren’t always linear and are often enriched by your openness to opportunities. I intend to carry this with me on my career journey, and have greatly enjoyed our newly fostered relationship and correspondence.
I have had a great experience with Pathways. The connections I’ve made have helped me explore job opportunities, feel more confident in my abilities, and think about my career from a fresh perspective.
My mentor conversations have been really helpful. They've suggested some other career paths that I wouldn't have considered before. I'd been getting career tunnel vision—where I could only picture myself doing a few things— my mentors have helped me break out of that thinking. I've returned to job searching with a renewed energy.
My experience with Pathways has been much more than traditional mentoring — I call it conversing and sharing. We don’t know where it goes but the journey is rewarding so far. It affirms my long-held view of Immanuel as a family.