On April 5, 2025, the annu­al Bright Press Paulsen Sym­po­sium was held at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa Levitt Cen­ter for Advance­ment. The event drew over 100 atten­dees for a day of mean­ing­ful con­tent cen­tered on the theme ​“Save Care­ful­ly.” This vibrant gath­er­ing allowed for schol­ars to engage with oth­er schol­ars and alum­ni from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa, Uni­ver­si­ty of North­ern Iowa, and Iowa State Uni­ver­si­ty along with Bright Foun­da­tion Board mem­bers, staff, and supporters. 

Now in its third year, the Bright Sym­po­sium has a new name rec­og­niz­ing donors Thomas Press and Don­na Paulsen. Tom and Don­na believe in the impor­tance of pro­fes­sion­al learn­ing out­side of the class­room and the pow­er of con­nec­tions. Their dona­tion ensures this event can broad­en the scope of Bright Schol­ars’ col­lege expe­ri­ence with­out impact­ing the Bright Foun­da­tion’s schol­ar­ship fund­ing. With its focus on pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment and com­mu­ni­ty con­nec­tion, the Bright Press Paulsen Sym­po­sium is now a cor­ner­stone event for the Bright Schol­ar community.

The Sym­po­sium fea­tured a pow­er­ful keynote address from Adam Car­roll, a finan­cial lit­er­a­cy expert and moti­va­tion­al speak­er. His mes­sage aligned per­fect­ly with the Symposium’s theme by encour­ag­ing atten­dees to think crit­i­cal­ly about their spend­ing and sav­ings habits along with long-term goals. Addi­tion­al­ly, Adam facil­i­tat­ed a net­work­ing work­shop filled with action­able tips for schol­ars to make pro­fes­sion­al con­nec­tions in pur­suit of their dream careers. The inter­dis­ci­pli­nary nature of the Sym­po­sium encour­aged these new con­nec­tions and ideas while lay­ing the ground­work for future part­ner­ships and pro­fes­sion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties that extend beyond graduation. 

Beyond the keynote, the day includ­ed an inter­ac­tive ses­sion of career net­work­ing round­ta­bles dur­ing which stu­dents rotat­ed through small-group dis­cus­sions with pro­fes­sion­als and alum­ni from var­i­ous indus­tries. These ses­sions offered real-time advice on every­thing from tack­ling assign­ments to nav­i­gat­ing job search­es. The dis­cus­sions ensured that every stu­dent walked away with at least one action­able insight. In addi­tion, an alum­ni pan­el pro­vid­ed valu­able post-col­lege per­spec­tives with for­mer schol­ars offer­ing prac­ti­cal advice on finan­cial habits and career development.

The event con­clud­ed on a heart­felt note as grad­u­at­ing seniors were invit­ed to reflect on their jour­neys and share their expe­ri­ences with the com­mu­ni­ty. This cel­e­bra­to­ry send­off, filled with laugh­ter, poet­ry, and per­son­al sto­ries, under­scored the tight-knit, sup­port­ive spir­it of the Bright Schol­ar net­work. Alto­geth­er, the 2025 Bright Press Paulsen Sym­po­sium was a mem­o­rable and trans­for­ma­tive expe­ri­ence that left schol­ars feel­ing inspired, con­nect­ed, and ready to take on the future.