Sarah Skillman '06
Accounting & Economics & Finance
During her time at Albright, Sarah was busy as a member of the Campus Life Council, Options, the varsity field hockey team and Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
She is now living in Reading, Pa., and working as a research assistant at Weik Investment Services, Inc. Her responsibilities include assisting the investment team with acquisition and distribution of research, in addition to assisting them with portfolio management.
"The small class sizes allowed me to develop close relationships with my professors. Dr. Martin played an integral role in helping me figure out what I wanted to do and in finding an internship. He encouraged me to apply for an internship at Weik, which led to my current position. Albright's small size also enables you to form close relationships with other staff members on campus. The Career Development Center takes the time to get to know each student and helps see you through the entire career search process. Albright's small size allows you to become involved in multiple campus organizations and activities. Not only did this enable me to gain leadership experience, but it also allowed me to work closely with administrators. The opportunities I had at Albright helped me to become who I am today both personally and professionally. I don't believe I would have had the same opportunities if I attended a larger university."
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Megan Flannery '06
Elementary Education & Early Childhood Education & French
While a student at Albright, Megan participated in Lion Diplomats, the Resident Student Association, Cue (yearbook), women's lacrosse and the French honor society.
She is now living in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and working in the Cumberland Valley School District as a long-term substitute kindergarten teacher. She is responsible for developing lesson plans and managing her classroom of kindergartners.
"At Albright, I had the opportunity to be in the classroom from the very beginning of my studies. I was able to volunteer at the elementary schools in Reading and work at the Albright Learning Center, both of which helped me to gain experience as a teacher. Also, my early field experience at Albright during my sophomore year enabled me to be in the classroom for the entire Interim semester and reinforced that teaching was really what I wanted to do."
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Jordan M. Mauger '06
Communications & English
As an Albright student, Jordan was involved in the Student Government Association, Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, The Albrightian (the school newspaper), Peer Orientation Persons (POPs), Concert and Chamber Choirs, the Day Students Association, the Honors Program, and the English honor society.
He currently resides in Philadelphia, Pa., and works as a copywriter in Promotional Content at QVC. He is responsible for composing promotional material for QVC.com. Jordan writes weekly updates for the different product categories on the site, such as Electronics, Cooking & Dining, Gourmet Food, Children's, and Home Improvement. After he creates the copy he is responsible for getting it approved by the legal department and making sure that it appears correctly on the layout before it goes up on the web site.
"Through both my communications and English coursework, I was able to develop my writing skills and become a more well-rounded writer. The different types of assignments I was given at Albright allowed me to learn a variety of writing styles, including the persuasive/promotional style I utilize daily in my position. Another valuable skill attained through both my courses and experience working on the student newspaper is an enhanced focus on detail. This attention to detail allows me to scrutinize my own writing to avoid any mistakes being placed on the web site."
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Stacey Krout '06
Biochemistry
While a student at Albright, Stacey stayed busy as a member of the women's volleyball team, the American Chemical Society, the Pan-Hellenic Council, and as a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
Stacey is now living in Norristown, Pa., and working as a lab data processing specialist at Merck & Co. Her responsibilities include processing and validating lab results for clinical trials. She must ensure that all of the results are accounted for at each visit for each patient/subject of the clinical trials. Stacey must also verify that the results and information accurately match up with the samples that are drawn from each specific patient/subject.
"Albright provided me with a strong base of knowledge. It provided many opportunities that helped me decide what I was interested in based on my strengths and weaknesses. I learned how to set personal goals and how to achieve them step-by-step. The encouragement of the faculty and staff always pushed me to work hard and expect more from myself."
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Amy Lucas '06
English & Communications
While studying at Albright, Amy spent her free time singing in the Chamber and Concert Choirs, working on The Albrightian (the school newspaper), tutoring other students in the Writing Center, working as a mentor in the Freshman Forum program, and as a member of the English honor society.
Amy is now living in Philadelphia, Pa., and working as an associate editor for Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI). She is responsible for contributing articles for six of ASI's magazines. Whether she is marketing to manufacturers, suppliers or end users of the promotional product industry, every project she works on and each magazine she contributes to is different. In addition to writing, she is also called upon to edit documents and look over magazines before they are sent to print.
"The classes I took at Albright helped very much to prepare me for the writing and editing that I do every day. However, I would also say that the people skills and relationships I formed were just as important, if not more so. My social connections with both peers and faculty made the difference in getting this position at ASI."
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Jessica Bair '06
English & Communications
As a student, Jessica kept busy as a staff writer for The Albrightian (the student newspaper), as a tutor in the Writing Center, and as a member of the English honor society.
She is now living in Etters, Pa., and working as a staff writer for the Central Penn Business Journal. As such she is responsible for covering the news topics of retail, small business, transportation and tourism in Lebanon County, Pa. This includes networking with sources, breaking news before competitors, and accurately reporting news in the Business Journal's daily e-newsletter, the Business Journal Daily. She writes one or two short items for the daily each day, about three short items for the weekly each week, and three full-length articles for the weekly each week.
"I interned at the Journal as part of my school work for my communications major. If it weren't for that internship, I would have never been asked to freelance for the Journal or eventually be asked to join the staff full time. My experience at Albright with The Albrightian helped to give me confidence in my writing skills and introduced me to newspaper production. My professors definitely gave me an edge up through insight from their own experiences. They provided endless support, encouragement and excellent advice."
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Catherine Maloney '06
Business & Political Science
While at Albright, Catherine helped out her fellow students in her role as a tutor in economics, accounting and finance.
She is now residing in Levittown, Pa., and working as a financial analyst for United Health Group, where she is part of the team that maintains accounts for Secure Horizons, a United Health Group company. She also takes part in reconciling accounts, preparing information for auditors, posting to ledger, analyzing figures and reporting to the Center for Medicare and Medicare Services.
"Our professors taught us how to think. The liberal arts program at Albright assisted us in becoming well-rounded (and more open-minded) individuals. This taught us how to apply those 'thinking' skills to any situation."
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Andrew Russell Holets '06
Political Science & Communications
During his four years as a student, Andrew was busy as news editor for The Albrightian (the student newspaper), a member of the Mane Men, Concert, and Chamber Choirs, as the sports director for 91.3 WXAC (Albright's radio station), as a member of the political science honor society, the English honor society, the Political Science Club and Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.
Andrew is currently resides in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, where he is working as a Peace Corps volunteer. He focuses on education and increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention among the youth and drug addicts of Pavlodar. He also teaches English language and journalism strategies to students.
"I made it a point to immerse myself in the college, both with and against its teachings, to learn as much as I could. The knowledge learned from my communications and political science courses allow me to balance various cultures and ideas of the world, while my extracurricular time with music gave me a language common to most people around the world. The extracurriculars offered at Albright afforded me a Renaissance man-type of college experience, and made it easy to make friends with various personalities-something that is valuable when living in a different culture for an extended period of time.
Writing with the newspaper and its staff gave me an inclination to observe society in all of its varying layers of reality and goodness. As for specifics to how Albright directly affected my current life, I owe a sizeable amount to the advice and assistance from Dr. Christian Hamann of the science department, and nearly all the professors in the political science and communications departments, including those no longer at Albright. Their teachings helped plant the seed that has led to my work and belief that the world can be improved through an application of education and development. Thanks to the Albright professors' unique and genuine care for their students as individuals, it was easy for me to ask for help and references when the time came."
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Continuing Education
Lynn Gazzale '06
Psychobiology
While at Albright, Lynn was a Peer Orientation Person (POPs), a member of the psychology honors society, and a member of Sigma Kappa sorority.
She is now living in South Brunswick, N.J., where she is a graduate student at Thomas Jefferson University. She is in a master's program for occupational therapy. She is also working as a graduate assistant for Project Home, an after-school program for underprivileged children in Philadelphia. After she graduates she looks forward to working as an occupational therapist in an early intervention setting.
"Albright provided me with a great knowledge base in both psychology and biology. This strong background has helped me in the anatomy and pathology classes that I am currently enrolled in. The prerequisites for my master's program correlated perfectly with the psychobiology classes that Albright required."
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Samuel J. Aronson '06
History & Holocaust Studies
During his time at Albright, Sam enjoyed being a member of the Concert Band, the yearbook, Albright College Friends of Music, the history honor society and a resident educator in the Albright residence halls.
Sam is now living in Washington, D.C. He is pursuing a master's degree in higher education administration at George Washington University, where he is also working as a financial aid counselor. In his capacity as a counselor, he assists undergraduate students in funding their education by providing loan DEFAULT-prevention counseling, federal work study and student loan accessibility information and processing loans as well as need-based and merit-based aid. The master's degree that Sam is studying to obtain will prepare him to work in a variety of mid-level administration positions in institutions of higher education or business and industry related to education. When he graduates, he hopes to find a position in housing and residential life at a major college or university or an associate's position at a national executive search firm.
"I would not be where I am today without the experience, knowledge and training I received at Albright. My time at Albright prepared me to work in a professional, collaborative atmosphere that requires independent thought, self-motivation and research and reporting. The writing, public speaking and collaboration skills I learned and honed at Albright are necessary, every-day components of my job and classes. If it wasn't for the dedicated faculty and administrators at Albright, I would never be able to successfully navigate a full-time job and full-time graduate studies. Pursuing my graduate work at a major research institution with more than 25,000 students has made me especially appreciative of the warm and community-centered atmosphere of Albright. That is something totally irreplaceable and it is greatly missed every day."
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Tayon R. Swafford '06
Religious Studies
As an Albright student, Tayon was involved in the Gospel Ensemble, the African-American Society, Albright Christian Fellowship, the religious studies honor society and Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.
He is now living in Nashville, Tenn., and pursuing a master's of theological studies degree at Vanderbilt University's School of Divinity. His current courses include topics like biblical criticism, theology and ethics and political thought. He is also the research assistant to Dr. Victor Anderson of the Christian social ethics and African-American studies department.
"My Albright education was absolutely amazing! All of my classes were amazing; however, the classes that I shall always remember and treasure the most, like 'The Sociology of Religion,' 'Diversity Issues,' 'The Black Church and the Phenomenology of Religion,' 'What is Religion' and 'Aggressive Materialism,' showed me that we all must actively work to create a society that is more embracing and empathetic. Enjoy the course you are taking-make sure that you can easily explain one fact or theory that has shaped your understanding of yourself, the community or the greater society. Learning is an active, communal and indeterminate process-in the end, one must live to learn by praising similarities and by celebrating pluralities.
From a phenomenological (experiential) point of view, Albright helped me develop a sense of individual and global responsibility, because the Experience events allowed me to take account of my role in the preservation of traditional beliefs, norms, values, etc. My advice to any incoming student is that you attend and pay active and close attention to the Experience events. These events allow students to recognize, respond, and engage with one another in unimaginable ways. Take advantage of this opportunity because after you graduate you will be expected to become a contributing member of an interpersonal and global society."
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