Roadtrip Nation recruits on campus

Tired of being asked what you're going to do after graduation and not having a definite answer? Brian McAllister was.

After graduating with a business administration degree from Pepperdine University in 2001, McAllister and his friends became frustrated by not knowing what to do with their lives.

"We just didn't know what the next turn was for us was," he said in an informational session held last night in Thomson Hall as a part of Career Discovery Week. "We felt we were the average college student trying to figure it out."

Their solution was to buy McAllister's parents' motor home, paint it lime-green, and set out for three months. They traveled from city to city interviewing everyone from the general manager of the Utah Jazz basketball team to Madonna's lead stylist to find out what they did after graduating from high school or college. The group translated their struggles figuring out the post-college world into a documentary.

"We came back with a whole new outlook," McAllister said.

McAllister's group interviewed people who would help them define their own roads in life, including Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz. In three months, they conducted 85 interviews. The experience helped the trio gain a better understanding of what their futures could be, McAllister noted.

It wasn't easy contacting people who had no clue what McAllister's group was, but "we didn't mind failing or getting denied," he said.

McAllister is a co-founder of Roadtrip Nation, a group that travels the country in a motor home interviewing people about the paths they followed to success. The program offers college students the opportunity to have the ultimate road trip experience, while at the same time allowing them to discover what their real interests are.

Today, the organization recruits students from 100 universities, including the UW. Roadtrip Nation's "Behind the Wheel Program" offers opportunities to explore career possibilities the same way McAllister and his friends did four years ago.

"I had my major, but I didn't know what to do with it, or what it meant," said Gloria Pantoja, a recent graduate from Sacramento State who became a spokesperson for Roadtrip Nation after going on the trip last summer.

During the past four summers, 12 different teams have embarked on road trips sponsored by Roadtrip Nation. Groups have interviewed hundreds of public and private figures, including Playboy guru Hugh Hefner and the editor of Seventeen magazine.

"[The interviews] are a networking opportunity, but more so it's a friend that you can go back to," McAllister said.

Students interested in the Roadtrip Nation program should check out the interviews and documentaries of previous trip-goers at the Center for Career Services Office or visit roadtripnation.com.