Enid Borden ’72, former president and chief executive officer of Meals on Wheels and the founder and chief executive of the not-for-profit National Foundation to End Senior Hunger, urged Alfred University students to take risks, dare to dare, and not be afraid of failure in the keynote address for Alfred University’s second Mentorship Day, held Friday, Oct. 3.
Enid Borden ’72, former president and chief executive officer of Meals on Wheels and the founder and chief executive of the not-for-profit National Foundation to End Senior Hunger, urged Alfred University students to take risks, dare to dare, and not be afraid of failure in the keynote address for Alfred University’s second Mentorship Day, held Friday, Oct. 3.
Borden joined more than 25 alumni who traveled to Alfred to offer networking connections and participate in panels on job-related subjects ranging from opportunities in the not-for-profit sector to incorporating artificial intelligence in job searches.
Mentorship Day was conceived in 2024 as part of Alfred’s focus on encouraging mentoring relationships to benefit students’ future careers. Alfred serve everyday as on-campus mentors, but Mentorship Day goes further, introducing AU alumni to students as sources for professional advice and possible networking opportunities.
Borden joined one of the day’s panels, talking about the potential benefits of a career in the not-for-profit sector. She also joked during her keynote address she had never heard of that sector of the economy; when she arrived at Alfred University in the mid-70’s, she hoped to develop a career in the theater. That didn’t come to pass; instead she discovered how inspiring work with not-for-profits could be
She recalled how her work with Meals on Wheels ignited her passion and opened her eyes to what she called “America’s hidden hungry…And that’s when I knew it, that was my purpose.”
Borden also offered a pyramid diagram to illustrate how students could “find (their) purpose in a journey of self-discovery.” Her “Great Purple Pyramid of Purpose” anchored a successful career on a “subject/hypothesis” base (“Why you care about something,” she said); rose toward “action/enterprise” and peaked at a purposeful point (“Your resolve to find the solution to a problem”).
The journey from base to peak may be difficult, she suggested, but she also offered some cheerful advice: Everyone fails, she told her audience in Miller Theater. “But we learn as much, and maybe more, from our failures as from our success. …Failure makes us work harder.”
She added: “Be bold, be brave enough to live your lives creatively.”
