Ed Surge – Emily Tate 
When Dolica Gopisetty was applying for summer internships earlier this year, employers kept telling her that what they valued most in potential hires was strong communication skills and a willingness to learn new things. And when Nathan Wallace was transitioning from college to the workforce a few months ago, he noticed a similar trend. “A lot of employers are looking for a well-rounded individual with multiple skills, including the ability to communicate effectively,” he said, adding that a penchant for experimentation came up a lot, too. Gopisetty and Wallace are both in highly technical fields. She’s pursuing an information technology degree, with a focus on cloud computing, at Virginia’s George Mason University, and he’s a recent graduate of Georgetown University’s master’s program in technology management. Yet despite these technical backgrounds, Gopisetty and Wallace, along with four other students speaking on a panel at the AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington, D.C. this week, praised their experiences in the arts and the importance of soft skills as key to setting them up for success in their respective fields. (more)