With the annual donning of caps and gowns only five weeks away, many students are anxiously awaiting the answer to the question they have been asked repeatedly for years: “What are you going to do when you graduate?”

With his trademark smile and casual composure, President Mark Emmert offered some guidance to a group of students at a town meeting in Kane Hall last night.

The meeting was organized by the Sigma Chi Fraternity’s Scholarship in Action program, which aims to help undergraduates succeed after leaving college.

The event became an intimate look into the president’s past as he related his college experiences to a group of about 40 students.

“As a kid from Fife, Wash., I came here not knowing what I wanted to do,” Emmert said. “I thought maybe I wanted to be a lawyer, but the truth is I didn’t know what lawyers did for a living. … Very little in my career progression was planned and thought out.”

In addition to his own background, Emmert offered students advice on how to better prepare themselves for leadership roles, noting in particular the importance of failure in seeking success.

“My favorite part was when he said that it’s important to make mistakes, take time to reflect on it and keep taking steps forward,” sophomore April Nishimura said. “A lot of times in academia we’re hesitant to look stupid or do the wrong thing, but that’s how people grow.”

Another skill Emmert suggested students learn is the ability to connect well with other people.

Knowing his audience, he tailored this advice by focusing many of his comments around student interests.

He made multiple references to Husky quarterback Jake Locker and placed a well-timed smile after mentioning that Winston Churchill’s father suffered from syphilis, which helped elicit laughter and a stronger connection with the crowd.

During the question-and-answer period, students took advantage of having the ear of the president and voiced their concerns about a number of campus issues, including the UW’s actions against production of University apparel in sweatshops and the proposed expansion of the student conduct code.

“It’s not about trying to regulate your behavior and ruin your social lives,” Emmert said of the conduct code expansion, citing examples of recent shootings and drug activity in the area. “It’s about working with all of you that live there — and the neighbors who live there — to minimize the problem.”

Emmert’s talk was one of several events — some public, some restricted to Sigma Chi members — that the student-created Scholarship in Action program has organized this year.

“A lot of it has to do with the theme of leadership, but we also look a lot at careers, helping undergrad students learn where they want to go with their lives,” junior and program coordinator Aaron Youmans said.

One of the benefits Emmert said the University offers students is embodied by the Scholarship in Action program.

“As a university, we try to give students lots of small-scale experiences,” he said. “The Greek houses do that really well.”

Reach reporter Trevor Klein at news@thedaily.washington.edu.