My OUS Story: Tia Parisi

Sophomore Tia Parisi from Madison, Wisconsin, only discovered Villanova because of a bet with her parents. When she began looking into colleges in 2016, she did not know where she wanted to go and why type of school she wanted.

She recalls, “I was really banking my college decision on how I’d feel when I visit the different school’s campuses. I’m from Madison, Wisconsin, so I had never heard of Villanova before. I am also the oldest in my family, and my parents both went to feeder schools, so they never had the experience of having to choose a college and pick where they wanted to go. So, we were all lost. But we’re a big basketball family, so my parents made a bet with me. They said that whoever wins the basketball championship that year that I would just go to school there, and I agreed. I didn’t take it seriously, but then my mom on a whim picked Villanova to win her company bracket pool because they had a pretty name. Then they won, and she won money from the pool. Deciding to stay true to our bet, she used the money and bought plane tickets to Philadelphia. When I got to campus, I immediately realized that this was the place that I was supposed to be because everyone was so friendship and the campus was so welcoming and full of people who wanted to see everyone do well and succeed. It was definitely the feeling of community that made me stay here. But I lost the bet, so that’s how I got here in the first place.”

Now at Villanova because of a bet she does not regret, she is an Honors Biology Major pursuing a Medical Ethics track. She also has minors in Creative Writing and Spanish. As a freshman, she came in as Undeclared Arts leaning towards English, but she was also drawn into Biology since she sees herself pursuing a career in Biotechnology after she graduates because she is interested in the concept of gene therapy and the new medicines that Bio-Tech companies are creating to treat cancer and other genetic abnormalities. Although, she does not know yet whether or not she wants to go into the laboratory side of Bio-Tech or the business side. So, this year, she declared Biology as her major and decided to add a Creative Writing Minor so she could still express herself creatively in her studies.

On campus, she ensures that she stays very involved. This year, she became a tour guide for the Blue Key Society because she enjoys exposing prospective students Villanova’s campus and showing them what it has to offer them. She has also served as a Volunteer Coordinator for Special Olympics, which was a hands-on experience that involved running a venue, organizing volunteers, and forming relationships with athletes. She was also a part of the Morale Committee for NOVAdance, is a RUIBAL leader for Campus Ministry, and pledged Delta Gamma this semester.

One of her on-campus accomplishments includes taking responsibility over the literary magazine, Ellipsis, formerly called Arthology. “For the magazine, we receive submissions from students and organize them into a publication every year, which we are currently in the printing phase for right now. This year, I’ve been working with my staff on rebranding because it became clear to me other students didn’t know what it was because of the former title. We changed the name and changed the look, but we kept the same values of the magazine. Kate Szumanski has been our advisor for Ellipsis. I really needed an advisor because we were going through so many changes. When I came into the literary magazine program it was still Arthology, and I was the only underclassman, everyone else involved was a senior. I remember I showed up to one of the meetings and they were surprised to see me. At the end of the year they told me that they hadn’t been expecting the magazine to go on after they left, but if I wanted it, I could have it and make it into whatever I wanted. I had a strong motivation to do this because I did a literary magazine in high school, but the fact that I was the only who was interested in keeping this going was what made me think that there needed to be big changes to the program. Kate’s really stood behind me and has helped me keep my motivation in running the magazine with a really small staff, so I’m excited for the magazine’s future.”

Outside of Villanova, Tia has also had a few work experiences. Her first internship was during her years at high school when she worked as an intern for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Microbiology Lab. The lab she worked for studied genetic ties to tuberculosis. There, she would clean the lab and learned Python computing language, which she would use to manipulate the data the lab received from their trials to make it cleaner and more understandable.  Last summer she had an internship with a Biotechnology company in Madison called Aldevron, which is a contract development company that works with other Bio-Tech Companies in Madison. For them, she worked as a marketing intern.

This summer she will be taking classes at the University of Wisconsin since she declared Biology as a major late and needs to catch up on classes. Next year, she hopes to participate in a study abroad program in Denmark during the Spring semester at the Denmark Institute for Study Abroad, which she just applied for. The institute itself has a large Bio-Tech program centered in Copenhagen.

One of her favorite parts about her experiences at Villanova was that all of her expectations have been met so far. “I came here because of basketball, and my freshman year we win another championship, so that’s the cherry on top. Then when I got here and learned about service opportunities like NOVAdance, Special Olympics, and how important service was on campus, and then coming to campus and being able to get involved in these activities that were as awesome or better than I expected them to be. Also, the community. When I came to visit, the Blue Key kids were going crazy and were so excited and welcoming. Then getting here as a student and that being true on a daily basis was so comforting. It makes me know I belong here.”

She left the interview with one piece of advice for fellow students. “I would say talk to people and ask questions. My relationship with Kate came out of me asking her for help, since I was insecure about this club I was running. Asking for help opens doors for possibility on campus. If you don’t push the people who are around you and the people who are supposed to help you, you’re never going to get anything out of your Villanova experience. You have to keep opening doors, talking to people, and pushing buttons to get results.”

My OUS Story: Renee Romagnoli

Junior Renee Romagnoli from Rockland County, New York, has allowed for each one of her fundamental experiences during her college career to be the foundation for her career path.

She entered Villanova as a Biology major, and she is interested in pursuing a minor in psychology. Her initial interest in Biology began when she was in eighth grade, and she took her first biology course. Though the course was challenging, she discovered her love for the body and how each system is so dynamic. Her aunt, a biology teacher, also pushed her in the direction of biology as Renee discovered that she wanted to become a doctor. Also, as a freshman, her Gen Bio II professor encouraged her to apply for the five year BS/MS program, which will allow her to also get a masters in biology. Next semester, she will begin developing her own project for her thesis.

As a part of her masters program, she has been working in Dr. Louise Russo’s anatomy and physiology lab since her freshman year. “We use the mouse model and we look primarily at different hormones that may affect uterine growth. It was a little intimidating to jump into research at first since I had no experience, and Dr. Russo immediately started me off with surgeries on live mice. I thought, I am a freshman, how am I supposed to do all of these things, am I going to pass out? In high school, I had only done one dissection on a frog and my partner ended up doing that work. But because of my work in the lab, I can now perform these surgeries on my own. I never thought that I would be able to handle that. It was the right push at the right time, since I was hesitant beforehand. The way Dr. Russo has her lab planned out is that you jump in and learn as you go. It’s more hands-on which I like. I now hope to keep pursuing the realm of anatomy and physiology but more in the realm of pediatrics in the future.”

On campus, she is a part of the Pre-Med Club, the Pre-Health Honors Society, and the Biology Honors Society, Tri Beta. She also serves as one of the co-presidents for MAPS, the Minority Association for Pre-Health Students, and the VP of Academic Excellence for her sorority Alpha Gamma Delta.

Being a part of MAPS has been one of the hallmarks of her Villanova career. “I started off as a regular member freshman year, and then they had board positions opening up, so I decided to apply for secretary. At the time, the two presidents were seniors, and they took me under their wing and guided me through the whole process as they were applying to medical school. I learned a ton from them without even knowing it. Then they recommended that I become president this year, and I have been doing that with another senior. For the position we try to relay information for activities on and off campus for minority students interested in health careers, so we work a lot with PCOM, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. I had never thought about being a president of a club since I had never seen myself as a good public speaker or much of a leader, even though I have had leadership positions, but they were all behind the scenes type of positions. But when the seniors in the club saw those characteristics in me that would be suitable to be a president, it made me feel more sure of myself and gave me a boost of confidence, reassuring me that I can do this. I now know I can handle more things than I give myself credit for.”

As a member of MAPS, she has been able to visit PCOM’s cadaver lab and their simulation lab, which allowed them to practice performing remote surgery. Last year they also had their first Melanin in Medicine Conference. For the conference, they invited five medical students from PCOM and Dr. Higginbotham, the Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at University of Pennsylvania’s Medical School. Currently, they are trying to host another student panel with people from Thomas Jefferson.

Renee has also been able to expand her interests in the medical field during each of her summers. When she was a freshman, she thought that along with Biology, she wanted to also pursue a major in Chemistry. So, she applied and received a Chemistry-oriented internship at SGS, a company that performs product testing. They placed her in the Organic Chemistry lab even though she had never taken a course in Organic Chemistry beforehand.

Although, that experience helped her decide what she did want to do. “I was extremely lost and confused the whole time in the Organic Chemistry lab, and I realized that I did not want to be stuck in a research lab alone as part of my future career. I would much rather do collaborative research work.”

Because of that realization, she decided to supplement her time with what she did want to pursue, and she decided to volunteer at NYAC Hospital. She had applied online to read to patients and their families before and after their treatment, but when she arrived at the hospital, they decided to place her in the Endoscopy unit, and then the Pathology unit.

She recalls that, “At the lab, I was able to see all of this fresh tissue that had just come out of the operating room, which was really cool. It was not what I thought I would be doing at all, but it helped me realize how much I enjoyed learning about that part of medicine. I worked with the Histology Technician. As the samples would come in, like hip bones or knee bones from different surgeries or a uterus from a hysterectomy or even amputations, I knew I had to prepare myself for those sights and help her as they process all of the tissues so they can make microscope slides. I got so much out of that experience, and I didn’t think I would enjoy that side of the medical field so much, all of the blood and guts, but that comes with being a doctor, and it helped me get over my fear of that and also solidify that this is what I want to do. I continued with them last summer, and every time I am home for breaks, I go back to volunteer. Each new time I come, they start to let me do more. Like they let me separate breast tissue, which I am not trained for, but they trusted me enough to do it.”

This past summer, along with NYAC, she also shadowed at Tufts and MGH in Boston in the NICU. “I absolutely loved it, just being around the babies all day was great. I just loved what the doctors were doing everyday. The health professionals there also told me that I had an uncommon personality that would be suitable for that profession, which I had never thought of as a strength of mine, but it was really great to hear them say that about me, it gave me confidence in my career choice.”

As for her post-graduation plans, she will stay at Villanova for an extra year to complete her research for her masters degree. After that she plans on applying to medical school, for which she would love to go back home to New York or be in the New Jersey area. Right now, she plans on going into neonatology.

To other Villanovans, she had a few pieces of advice. “For me, coming from high school, I was super involved in a lot of different clubs, and then I got here and it was a shellshock seeing how involved everybody is. It made me a little overwhelmed, wondering how I could find my place in all of these different organizations and not knowing what would be best for me. I would say try as many as you can, and it’s okay to not like something or to try something you that you never thought you would be interested in. Like for me going out for MAPS, I didn’t know if it would be a good fit for me, but I decided to see how it would go and now I’m one of the presidents of it, so you really never know what could lead you in the right direction. Also, I didn’t know that coming from a huge family and to a new school, that you would feel alone sometimes, and being involved in those clubs and taking on leadership position, makes you feel like your presence is more important and you can get your voice heard, so I thought that was helpful for me in the transition to establish my place at Villanova.”

My OUS Story: Ritesh Karsalia

Senior Ritesh Karsalia from New Jersey has always known that he has wanted to become a doctor, but it was not until coming to Villanova that he found his other passions. He came to Villanova as a Biology major because he is an aspiring physician and because of his interest in the life sciences from high school.

Though, he did not expect that he would declare minors in Spanish and Latin American Studies. “What pushed me there was our core curriculum and some really great professors. After I took both semesters of intermediate Spanish my freshman year, that was technically all I was required to do, but one of my professors approached me and told me about a study abroad program. I considered doing it, but I was hesitant at first until another professor told me about the same program.”

After the recommendations from those two professors, Ritesh ended up attending an information session that inspired him to apply to the study abroad program. So, the summer after his freshman year, he studied abroad in Chile, where he took a course with a Chilean professor that focused on the differences in Chile in comparison to other Spanish speaking countries. In the course, they explored the everyday life of a Chilean, including their slang, sayings, and the distinguishing factors of the country.

He recalls that “Spending the summer in Chile influenced my interest because I realized that Spanish was not just a language I took for a requirement, but I really enjoyed learning the language and communicating with others with that language. I remember the first day I met my host family, I could not speak much Spanish at all, and it was the most intimidating thing I have experienced because I didn’t know how I could communicate with them. It was really awkward communicating with them the first few weeks with hand gestures, broken Spanish, and going in circles with phrases. After a while though, I became a lot more fluent in terms of communication because I became immersed in the culture. That whole experience made me realize how interesting it was to communicate with these people from different parts of the world, and I didn’t have access to learn and speak with them before. It helped me learn better Spanish and influenced me to pursue that minor along with Latin American studies after learning about the culture and taking more classes at Villanova. I did not anticipate these minors, but they’ve been influential in shaping my future goals and time at Villanova.”

On campus, Ritesh’s major commitment has been with Campus Ministry in their COV program, which stands for Community Outreach of Villanova. Every week for the past two and a half years, he has been going with a cohort of students to a parish in Upper Darby where he tutors immigrants in that area in ESL in small groups or one on one tutoring.

“We get many Spanish speaking and Vietnamese speaking immigrants who attend the facility and are at different levels of English. They need help in order to figure out how they can work around their everyday jobs and lives. It has been one of the most influential things I have done on campus, and I think it ties in with the time I spent studying abroad, because that’s what really got me interested in other cultures and languages. It has come full circle to this experience, and this is something I have been super grateful to participate in.”

He also volunteers with Learning Support Services in Falvey, for which he leads weekly General Biology study group sessions. Each week, around twenty to thirty students come for extra help and content review.

He has also left his mark on campus with his work with the Health Professions Advising Office. As a freshman, he bonded with his advisor, Dr. Russo while she was assisting him with his classes and his career goals. At the time, there was an office assistant who ended up leaving for dental school, and they needed someone to help them take on a lot of their responsibilities, a major one being the newsletter they publish each semester. Dr. Russo asked him to step into the position, which is something that he has now been managing for four semesters. For the newsletter, they decide upon a theme that will help pre-health students in all of the pre-health fields and solicit articles and different experiences from students and professors on campus.

In regard to his work experience, last summer, Ritesh worked in the immunology lab in Mendel as part of a research fellowship. He has also worked as a clinical assistant intern at a reproductive endocrinology clinic between my sophomore and junior year and also during some of his winter break during my sophomore and junior year back home in New Jersey. For that position, he helped the team at the clinic with procedures, patients, and data collection.

Currently, he works as an intern at Villanova’s Law School as the community interpreter. For that position, he works with student lawyers who are assigned different cases ranging from asylum, refugee, and health law. As the interpreter, his role, through the Spanish department, is to serve as intermediary in order to help the student lawyers communicate with their clients when they have to make phone calls to them or when their client comes in.

Before he goes to medical school, for which he is open to many different medical fields, Ritesh plans on taking a gap year. “I am anticipating spending the next year doing a year of service through AmeriCorps. I had an interview recently for a program I am excited about, and I should hear from them soon. It is with a community health center in New Jersey, and they work with farmers, marginalized communities, people from a lower socio-economic status, and immigrant populations. They help provide them with primary care medical services, get them enrolled in the Affordable Care Act, and help them with basic health education and health literacy while running after school physical activity programs like diabetes management. I have a couple of other potential job offers, but I want to do this because it’s going to broaden my horizons and allow me to experience health care in populations and areas I might not typically be exposed to during medical school. I think from my background up until this point, I have not been able to see a lot of the challenges and struggles that there are in the disparities in the health care field. Being able to spend that year with a completely different population group will help me view my future career through a different lens and help me be better prepared to handle issues that people face within the field.”

He left the interview with a message for his fellow Villanovans, “I think an important piece of advice for any student, no matter what field they’re pursuing, is to find an area or region of interest that really captures your mind, something that you’re really interested in, and something that you can see yourself expanding upon. What I mean by that is you should find an interest, and then really hone in on that interest by putting all of your efforts into it. For me, I came into Villanova as a pre-health student, but after my time here, I became interested in immigrant and marginalized populations and service through that lens through my study abroad, my service, and my minors. So, for any student here at Villanova, I think it’s important to find an area you’re interested in and dive deep into it in order to find out how you can make an impact there from a deeper perspective.”

My OUS Story: Amenawon Ayemere

Sophomore Amenawon Ayemere has taken advantage of every resource that Villanova has to offer her, resources that are fueling her path to medical school. She has lived in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania for most of her life, but she was originally from Nigeria, making her a first-generation Nigerian college student.

She remembers that initially she did not want to go to Villanova. “At first, I didn’t want to apply to Villanova, because to be honest, it was fifteen minutes from where I lived and didn’t have great diversity. I decided to come here because of the offer I received, and I figured that they had more resources I could take advantage of because it is a private university. Now to be honest, and it’s so cliché, but I love Villanova. I love going here. I feel like the school has opened up so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have had anywhere else.”

She entered Villanova as a Biology major, since she believed that it was the best major for pre-med students. For a while, she enjoyed Biology, but she realized that it limited the types of science classes that she could take, so she switched to Comprehensive Science last semester, which has allowed her to branch out and concentrate in different specialties.

She also has a minor in Global Health. “I declared a minor in Global Health because I am very interested in the world in general, especially after the Break Trip I went on over Spring Break to the Border, which was sponsored by CASA. I also went to Nigeria and Egypt during Christmas Break. When I was at these places, I was able to see how economics, the school system, and the health system works differently from America, and those differences fascinated me. So, I decided to have that global perspective and branch away from the sole American perspective. I feel like a lot of Americans just like think it’s America only when it’s like no there’s a lot going on outside of this country, better or worse. That’s why I’ve been a little more intrigued in the global world and the global perspective and I’ve decided to dive deeper into that.”

Amenawon remembered the difficulties of adjusting to a college environment. “As a first-generation college student, it was really hard coming to Villanova since I had to navigate everything for the first time on my own. My top three resources became CASA, Ann Trail from Health Professional Advising, and Learning Support Services. The people there, especially Ann Trail, made me feel comfortable and heard. First semester, I didn’t utilize most of those resources, but second semester, I knew I needed to work really hard, so I started utilizing them to my full capability and I’ve been on the Dean’s List ever since. The resources are there, you just need to tap into them and not be afraid to ask.”

On campus, she is involved in many different organizations. She works as a Volunteer EMT for VEMS and is involved in ACV, which is the organization for African and Caribbean Villanovans. Next year, she will be a Service Coordinator for the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students (MAPS) and will serve as an RA in McGuire Hall. She is also most proud of her work as the Vice President of Scientista, which is a national organization for women in STEM, which she said is a great way to make connections with many professional women in different STEM fields through conferences and career fairs with the different chapters of Scientista.

She also works as a research assistant on campus in the Biology Department under Dr. Kelman Wieder along with five other students. They primarily work with Peat Moss and look at the effects of nitrogen and other chemicals on it. Together, they collect samples, clean them, and grind them to prepare them for analyzation.  

Amenawon decided in high school that she wanted to become a doctor after an irreplaceable educational experience. “My high school had a professional field experience course, and through it we could go to the nearby hospital and shadow each department. Every day I came home from this course with a new story. For example, one day I shadowed in the Nursery, and when I was there, I noticed that there was one baby in particular that could not stop crying even though he was only three days old. I asked the nurse what was happening, and she told me that the baby was born addicted to opiates and was currently going through withdrawal since his mother had taken them during her pregnancy. I realized at that moment that the health professional I was speaking to, was the only person who could help that baby and keep him alive. Because this health professional came into his life at such a young age, he can live, he can grow, and possibly have a successful future. It made me realize that everything in your life is second to your health, so I decided to pursue medicine because of the power health professionals have and how grateful I am for them. The idea of being able to be that person, that superhero, the person who can literally change your life, is amazing. I think sometimes they don’t get enough credit. As a health professional, you are an invisible hero. It blows my mind that I could do that for the rest of my life.”

Villanova has also equipped Amenawon with being able to already know that she will achieve the next step on her journey in becoming a doctor: medical school. She was accepted into a 4+4 Affiliation Program between Villanova and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine that guarantees her admittance into the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine as long as she follows a few guidelines throughout her undergraduate career. Only sophomores pursuing Osteopathic Medicine could apply, so after she discovered it on the HPA website and attended an information session, she decided to apply since it fit her goals perfectly.

She wishes to pursue Osteopathic Medicine because of her ultimate goals as a doctor. “Osteopathic medicine deals with preventative medicine, and that’s important because when I grow up I want to work in especially low income or poor neighborhoods. Having preventative medicine is really important for these families because they can’t see a doctor every year. This field turns medicine into a craft.”

Next summer, she currently plans on participating in SHPP, the Summer’s Health Professional Experience Program after receiving acceptance. It is a six-week program at Rutgers Medical School that helps expose pre-health students to their specific fields.

She had one final piece of advice for other Villanova students. “To other people and students coming into Villanova, just open your mouth and ask. I feel like Villanova is where if you need help you can get it. There’s a lot of resources, so utilize them, and there’s a lot of opportunities you just need to go for them.”

My OUS Story: Owen Barnard

Senior Owen Barnard from Oxford, Mississippi has never let an opportunity pass him by.

Before coming to Villanova, he already knew that he wanted to become a Political Science Major because of his deep interest in government and politics. Although, he waited to declare until the end of his sophomore year in order to make sure it was definitely what he wanted to pursue after taking some political science courses.

He chose Villanova primarily because of location, since he realized he didn’t want to remain permanently on Capitol Hill, where he learned most people who go to schools in Washington D.C. end up. He realized that going to Villanova would allow him to live in a swing state, be near a historic city, and go to a school with a good basketball program and a good political science program.

On campus you can find him at the two organizations that have dominated most of his time at Villanova. Throughout the year, he works as a tour guide for the Blue Key Society. Since his freshman year, he has also held many positions in the Student Government Association. For three years, he has been one of the three senators for Liberal Arts and Sciences, he was the first speaker of the senate last year, he has chaired a couple of committees, and the past two years he’s served as a student representative on the Academic Fairs Committee.

Due to his positions in SGA, he has been an advocate for Arts and Sciences students. “For SGA, when I’ve advocated for different policies for Arts and Sciences students, I’ve gone to talk with people in OUS just because they’re the people who have control over those matters outside of the Dean’s Office.”

After taking two ASPD courses with Kate Szumanski, called Professional Writing and Social Networking, Owen became, as he said, a dedicated support member of Kate Szumanski’s internship squad and has volunteered at many panels that Kate has hosted. “Anytime there’s a panel there’s a consistent group of us that she taps to talk on them, and I volunteer whenever I can. They happen usually during Candidate’s Day and Kate asks us to talk to accepted students about our internship work, how we connected that to the classroom, and how Villanova propelled us to where we are now. There are usually three or six of us on the panel, and we have a running conversation about we who are, where we’ve come from, what we’re doing now, and here’s what it took.”

He began his extensive internship experience before his freshman year of college. For two summers, before his freshman year and the year after, he worked for AmeriCorps. “Most people, when they think of AmeriCorps, they think of it as a one to two year commitment all year round, but I did two, three month commitments for two summers. I worked with them at their summer school program in Holly Springs, Mississippi, doing everything from making copies to working with the kids, helping teachers, and community outreach. It was a really educational experience since it was a summer school for kids who would fail school if they didn’t come or kids whose parents didn’t want them sitting at home all summer. All of the teachers involved were brand new teachers. Many had never taught before, and it was so interesting seeing them go from point A to point B throughout the summer.”

The summer of his sophomore year, he worked for the Mississippi Farm to School Network. “It is a non-profit that does advocacy education in terms of getting healthier and locally grown food from farms to schools. It ensures that at local schools, lunches incorporate local farms’ produce instead of having it shipped from elsewhere. By taking the food, the school sustains the farm and the farm sustains the lunch program in return. The program also worked with the farmers, brought community gardens to schools, and brought the kids to the farms.”

The summer before his senior year, Owen also interned for the digital department on the re-election campaign for Bob Casey, who is one of the senators from Pennsylvania who later got re-elected in the fall for another six-year term.

Lastly, he worked as a digital media strategist for a handful of democratic campaigns around the country through a firm out of New York called Ethica Media. “My focus was mainly digital ad buying, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other social media. I learned to take the message of the campaign, work with the campaign and the campaign strategy team, and then build the profile of the voter we were looking for.”

As of right now, Owen does not have plans for after graduation, though he’s been searching for opportunities that will help guide him in his decisions for his future, a future that is open for him. “I’ve applied for some presidential campaigns for fun, although they are super competitive. My favorite is Pete Buttigieg from Indiana, and I’ve wanted to work for him even before he did his CNN Town Hall and became super popular. That’s the dream. Other than that, I’ve pondered law school, an MPA, or an MPP, I’m sort of all over the place with what I want to do. I know that I at least want to take one or two years before I go back to school, although I know I want to go back for myself and because in many spaces, either the salary or the work, requires a higher degree. Though, I want to take the time to choose what I want to pursue before I sign on the dotted line. I’ve done everything from dishwashing to sweeping floors to jobs where I’m paid well like digital ad buying, so I know that these next two years, as long as I have a job and a support system, I know I will be fine. Though, right now, I have a couple of interviews lined up in digital ad campaign management at a couple places between Philly and New York.”

Owen left the interview with advice for his fellow students. “Use your resources, make sure to reach out to people early and often since everybody’s willing to help. A couple job offers that I got for internships the summer going into my senior year before I chose the one with Bob Casey, some were from the Nova Network and some were from Handshake, so use the resources you have and don’t be afraid to go talk to people who could have resources that can help you. Don’t miss an opportunity to do something. Make sure to carve out time to do the interesting stuff as opposed to what you can do every day. That’s when a lot of my cool experiences have been had, like seeing John Kasich, John Kerry, Tarana Burke, all of whom came to campus. Going to those big-name events, and other smaller events like diversity presentations will provide you with different points of view that can make you a more well-rounded person.”

My OUS Story: Juliette Foley

Senior Juliette Foley from Wallingford, Pennsylvania, has allowed her passion for the environment and geography to secure her future career.

At Villanova, she is double majoring in Environmental Science and Geography, which she declared during her sophomore year. “I chose these majors because the idea of being outside and doing testing for the environment appealed to me instead of the typical office job. I was also in the Environmental Learning Community during my freshman year. It was a nice segue into declaring my majors. Everyone was really friendly and close, and they had a great sense of community that Villanova always talks about. It was really nice as opposed to other dorms without learning communities where you don’t really get to talk to anyone. We even went on weekend trips to different farms, to Tesla where we got to ride in the cars, and we had bonfires.”

Juliette can be found at the GIS Club, Globeplotter, where they do humanitarian work like digitizing streets in third world countries or other underdeveloped places. She can also be found working at the different gyms across campus, where she has been working since her freshman year, and crocheting pet hats for a local animal shelter, Providence Animal Center.

She spent last semester working as a teaching assistant for Dr. Shakya’s Environmental Pollution course, which for her was a great experience especially in conjunction with the current climate change crisis. Last year, when she lived on campus, she was also highly involved in Inter-Hall Council, where she helped plan events for the residents of St. Mary’s Hall.

The summer after her sophomore year, she was accepted into a study abroad program. “I studied at Arcadia in Sydney, Australia the summer after my sophomore year. I took the courses Australian Aboriginals and Environmental Policy, which were both great classes. The class Environmental Policy even sponsored fields trips, allowing us to venture to the Outback and some other national parks in Australia. I also went on a lot of day trips around the country and even did a weekend in Cairns to see the coral reefs with some of the other study abroad students.”

After that summer, she knew that she had to begin her job search. “Junior year I went to the Career Center, and I had them look over my resume. A very helpful and knowledgeable student who worked there taught me how to format my resume properly and edited it so that it used stronger verbs, the type that companies want to see. Then, I looked up GIS positions online and applied to a bunch of places. A few places responded, and I ended up interviewing for Vertex Inc. in King of Prussia, so that last summer, I interned there as a GIS Analyst Tax Research Intern. It is a tax software company, and they calculate taxes for different companies like Starbucks and Toyota. I personally worked on jurisdiction boundaries and addresses for GIS, so for example I digitized streets, performed feature edits for streets using USPS data and background maps, and edited city boundaries to ensure correct tax calculations. I had also never been in an office before, so it was great getting that office experience, though I learned that sadly it’s not like the show, “The Office.” Although, I was also able to meet people my age trying to figure it out in the same field as well, which made the internship beneficial to my career growth.”

She entered her senior year last semester ready to start preparing for her plans after graduation, not knowing that soon, Vertex would be reaching back out to her. “One of my co-workers at Vertex had to have heart surgery and there was a complication, so he was out for half a year, and they needed some extra help. My bosses asked me if I would like to return for some part-time work during the semester, which I agreed to. This semester, they asked me to interview again for a full-time position, which I received. After I graduate, I’ll begin my position there as a GIS Technician.”

Her time at Villanova was made up of the little things amidst the big. “Winning the national championship freshman year was probably my favorite memory here since it was so unexpected. Otherwise, there isn’t one thing that stands out, but throughout my time here, I’ve had some great little moments that have formed my experience here.”

When she was speaking of her favorite courses, though she wholeheartedly enjoyed both of her majors, she remembered fondly her introductory theology course that went against her expectations. “I had this great teacher for Theology 1000, her name was Dr. Kathleen Grimes. She was more progressive than I thought a Theology professor could be, and she made good arguments and began great discussions, like one time she asked us, “Will there be sex in Heaven?” I was stunned that religion would talk about that or even consider it.”

She left the interview with a piece of important advice. “Start early in finding a job and looking for all of the opportunities on campus. But don’t freak out if you don’t know what you’re doing, because no one ever really does, you can take your time to figure it out.”

My OUS Story: Alexander Pereira

Current Senior Alexander Pereira, from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, has melded his curriculum into his future career path all the while ensuring that future students can do the same. On campus, you can find him studying in the library, playing intramurals like soccer, basketball, volleyball and flag football, at the gym, and being a leader in the Villanova Consulting Group.

During the first semester of his sophomore year, he declared a major in Communications. Specializing in Organizational Communication, and a minor in Business. He had known before coming to Villanova that he wanted to work in a business environment, but it took him until coming to Villanova to explore his passion for the people and relationship skills side of business. As a freshman, since he knew he wanted to pursue something in the business field, he tried Economics. Soon, he realized that the Economic courses were not for him while realizing that he was enjoying his communication classes, like Public Speaking, the most.  

He said, “Certain majors and certain courses comes easier to other people, it depends on the person. Like for me I love public speaking, I love presentations, I love getting up in the morning, and I love having conversations with people, so for me I realized that my loves and my skills fit communications after I read about the different specializations. Before when I thought of communications I thought of television, the media, and journalism, but I didn’t realize there was a whole side of with specializations in interpersonal communication and organizational communication. I was able to make links between that program and business.”

So, he realized that Organizational Communication suited his career goals. He explains his academic program as “almost like the liberal arts version of business management where you not only look at how people operate and organize themselves in a business but in everyday life within society.”

By adapting Communications to suit his career path towards business, Alex was able to experience different sides of Villanova. “Having the opportunity to take classes in both Garey and Bartley positioned myself well because I wasn’t sucked fully into one mindset. At the end of the day, I had a good breadth of experience within my classes as a whole. I would say the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences does a good job of exposing students to different types of courses through pre-requisites and general education courses. They can be overwhelming, but as a senior, I now see why we have them because you are able to take these different courses in different areas and see what you like and don’t like.”

The varied courses that he took allowed him to realize his passion for business consulting that led him to take the course Consulting and Organization taught by adjunct professor, Dr. Suzanne Seidl, whom he has taken the last three semesters. Dr. Seidl’s teaching style has Alex’s preferred mix of communication and business, for she teaches communication through a business mindset and has many guest speakers come to her classes.  

Dr. Seidl’s class required students to become actual consultants. “Our professor gave us the freedom to pinpoint a problem that we saw on Villanova’s campus, find a client, and work with them to come up with a strategy report, implementation plan, and needs assessment on how to fix it in the best way possible. My client was Kate Szumanski, the Director of Leadership and Professional Development in OUS. I had noticed that consulting opportunities are growing fast in Villanova, but many of those opportunities are housed within Bartley even though consulting is open to all majors. In consulting they want a diversity of thought, backgrounds, and communication skills. That diversity of thought is needed to solve a client’s problem as efficiently as possible. So, I met with Kate to implement a plan on how to spread awareness in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences about all of these consulting opportunities. For that, we created a new ASPD Consulting Course, which will hopefully be running by next year.”

For the course, which would run once a week and be pass/fail, Alex and Kate plan on having Nova Alumni that we are current consultants to come to the class and talk about their own experiences in order to educate students about that career path and network with them. Alex believes that this course could save students time. “From the class, if you can figure out, hey I’m a sophomore, and I love consulting, now I’m going to put my best foot forward and start preparing for interviews and internships for my junior year. Or you say, I took this course, put my best foot forward, met some interesting people, but I don’t think consulting is for me, and now I can focus on different careers.”

Alex has also had multiple internship experiences that have built the foundation for the career he is pursuing. Growing up, he worked alongside his father and his uncle in their family construction business. This work provided him with sales and technical work experience.

Then, during the fall semester of his junior year, he participated in a study abroad program in Sydney, Australia. There, he took courses and worked as a marketing and communications intern for Discovery Communications, which is the umbrella network for channels like Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, and TLC. Throughout the internship, he was given exposure to how television networks work, he helped out with Shark Week, and he was even an extra in some of the network’s commercials.

Last summer, he interned at Burlington Stores in New Jersey as a planning and allocations analyst, a position he received after attending one of Villanova’s Career Fairs and meeting an employer from Burlington. Even though it was a more financial and business type of role, he was also able to engage in elements of communication and presentation that he loves. He recalls that, “It was exciting to be working within that business because the nature of standard brick and mortar retail is starting to go down whereas off-price discount retailers like Burlington are on the rise.”

Currently, Alex is interning in Philadelphia at a Public Relations Advertising firm called the Brownstein Group in their strategy department. He was able to get that position when he learned about the company and reached out on LinkedIn to a Villanova Alumni who works there. She referred him to others in the business and helped him get an interview.

Starting in the summer, Alex will be working as a consultant at a global consulting firm called Accenture in their Philadelphia office, fulfilling his goals of becoming a consultant. “I am really excited to have the opportunity to be in a firm like this, be able to travel, be expected to think on my feet, adapt to different industries and clients, and be able to have consulting training and development invested in me.”

Alex left the interview with one piece of advice. “Balance is important. This is something I still struggle with. I often spend too much time in my academics and not as much compared to other opportunities. What I have been able to realize looking back at my time here, is that obviously you want to come here for a good education and pursue something that you are passionate about, but what is unique about college, something that you may not realize at first, is that there are so many areas where you can learn and develop outside of the classroom like living with someone you don’t know or independently, learning to manage conflict, making friends, and maybe going abroad. All of it is part of the learning experience that makes college so valuable over the degree. It is important to understand that and realize that you should be consciously trying to allocate your time to developing yourself as a person in addition to your studies.”

My OUS Story: Mia Arrington

During her time at Villanova, freshman Mia Arrington from Maryland, has learned that she is more than what she appears on paper.

Before deciding to attend Villanova, Mia struggled deciding between Villanova and Spelman College, which is the number one historically black college, known as an HBCU. She remembers that all of her friends from high school thought that she would be attending Spelman, but for her, Villanova offered a new challenge she hadn’t faced before.

“I felt at home at Spelman when I visited, but at the same time, I was really impressed with Villanova, and I felt that I could make it my home with some work. I thought that I would have to challenge myself more as Mia and make myself do something different, because at Spelman I saw myself being comfortable and fitting right in, but Villanova offered me an opportunity for growth. Sometimes it’s been difficult, but most of the time, it’s been rewarding, and usually it’s rewarding after it’s been difficult. I feel like Villanova has definitely been a humbling experience, but I have also had moments where I appreciate myself more since I am starting to realize that the surface level isn’t everything I am.”

She has found bits of her home at Villanova in the Black Cultural Society and in REACH, a multicultural outreach program for which she mentors a 10^th grader at a high school in Philadelphia. Though she remains undeclared, she aspires to declare a double major in Political Science and Philosophy. She has always been interested in politics since her father and her grandfather are both former politicians turned lobbyists. Since she was a little girl she’s loved going to work with her father, which has allowed her to become more conscious of what’s ethical and of the grey areas in politics. She has been able to see the benevolent side of these grey areas under the influence of her father who lobbies for underrepresented and underserved groups, which functions as her main inspiration. In regard to Philosophy, she has always liked it, but her main push to the field was when she learned that another one of her inspirations, Angela Davis, majored in philosophy.

Last semester, she decided to attend Kate Szumanski’s Workplace Wednesday Workshops. Meeting Kate at these workshops was, as she said, a really transformative experience.

Kate ended up asking her to speak during Early Action Candidate’s Day on a panel about professional development and internships. She recalls, “I was the last person to speak on the panel, and I started during the last two minutes before it was supposed to be over. I talked about how I met Kate, what employers look for, and what I will be doing this summer. I was nervous, but afterward, a girl came up to me and asked me questions about what I had talked about, and we exchanged information. I was so happy because I did the same thing last year when I attended a panel on campus, so that was a big thing for me.”

Attending these workshops, where she learned how to write a cover letter and improve her resume, allowed her to receive a research position on campus through the Villanova Match Research Program for First Year Students. Currently, she works under Dr. Meredith Bergey in a medical sociology study concerned with World Trade Center Cough that some 9/11 survivors are afflicted with, causing respiratory issues. They are studying the sociological reasons why the recognition of this condition was dropped off in medical and political fields.

This summer, she will be interning at the Congressional Office of U.S. Representative from Texas, Sheila Jackson Lee, on Capitol Hill while working at a waterpark during the weekends. She received this position when over Winter Break, she and her father attended an Investiture at Capitol Hill where every representative was hosting an Open House. She decided to venture to Sheila Jackson Lee’s office since she had prior met her at the Congressional Black Caucus over Fall Break.

She said, “My dad told me that I have to be aggressive, so I went over to Sheila Jackson Lee wanting to congratulate her for being sworn in again. I introduced myself, said what I was studying, and how moved I was by the whole program for it was so encouraging and empowering. I don’t know if she remembered my name, but I think she remembered me being really aggressive from the Fall. I ended up meeting her legislative counsel after she had to leave since they had already had work to do once they were sworn in. I had just been mingling, eating the food, and then her legislative counsel complimented my coat. That’s how the conversation started. I told her I was at Villanova, and she said that if I was interested in interning at the office to send her a short cover letter and a resume. Not much later, my application was approved, and in the summer, I will be serving under the legislative counsel.”

Mia’s most formative experience at Villanova took place over Spring Break, where she embarked on a Social Justice Experience to San Diego and Mexico, in the areas of Tijuana and Tecate, for a border immersion experience with other Villanovans sponsored by CASA. They spent half the week in San Diego on one side of the border, learning about that culture, lifestyle, and history. In the middle of the week, they met with Border Control Officers before they left for Mexico. During the week, they volunteered at migrant shelters and schools.

Concerning the experience, Mia recalls that “It was life changing for me, though it was something that was hard to grapple with. I want to commend the grassroots organizers that are standing up for their own communities because they are doing a lot of work and they hosted us. Other people on the trip thought that their faith was being tested, and they had more accountability for themselves and their actions, and their faith was tied into that. I felt the same. My grandfather was a pastor, so it was very important to him that we were connected to God. While we were there, I could only think about him, but we were without our phones, so even though I wanted to call him, I couldn’t. I don’t believe that it was a coincidence that he made peace with everything on Earth at the same time I was having all of these revelations. When I got back, he had already passed. I am really grateful for that experience, for it helped me learn that it even though it helps to look good on paper, it’s important to be more than that.”

Her trip also inspired her to return to studying the Spanish Language, a language both of her grandparents, who she called the trailblazers in her family, were proficient in and taught. “I have always loved Spanish, and on the trip we immersed ourselves in the language. It reminded me that our language barriers have such deep impacts on our lives, especially at the border where it is so tense, polarized, and politicized. I remember that we went to a Home Depot where people were looking for work. One of the men said that he was so afraid when we got out of our car speaking English, and since we were a big group, he didn’t know what would happen. I thought that was so mind-blowing, because he was a grown man who reminded me of my dad, and he might be afraid of me even though I’m just an eighteen-year-old girl. Our ability to speak Spanish eased over that tension. I understood and truly felt that these people are worth fighting for, and they need advocates to represent them steadfastly. I am going to be that person.”

To her fellow Villanovans, Mia had a few pieces of advice. “Be serious about what you’re here to do, but don’t take yourself too seriously because I think the most meaningful work can be done when everybody checks their privilege and remembers that no one person is better than anybody else. Also understanding what circumstances may be affecting someone’s life and their productivity will help your work become as fulfilling as possible, not only for you but for other people. I sometimes take myself too seriously, and I have to remind myself to relax, so it’s something that I am also learning, but I think it can do everybody some good.”

My OUS Story: Marisa Reinhart

Senior Marisa Reinhart from Pequannock, New Jersey, has made the most of her Villanova Career. She chose to attend Villanova because she witnessed a community where everyone was enjoying their time. She also wanted a medium sized liberal arts college where she could continue to pursue her love of critical reading and writing and to figure out how to apply it in her future. Her love of sports also prompted her to attend a school with a sports presence, which, as she recalled, worked out. She also said that she has a twin brother at Seton Hall, which has prompted a huge Big East rivalry in her family.

She also recalled an unforgettable experience from her childhood. “When I was four, I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, and the engines caught on fire, so they stopped the boat, got it under control, and we chugged back to Bermuda to fly home. But Tina Fey ended up being on it. She wrote about it in her book that it was her honeymoon cruise in 2001 before she was big. My mom read the book and we realized that it must have been the same cruise we were on.”

She came into the university undecided as a Freshman, but she was open to experience the well-roundedness of a liberal arts education by taking different classes and seeing what most captured her interest. After exploring different courses, she discovered that her passion lay in Communications and declared it as a minor with a specialization in Public Relations. She also has a double minor in History and Peace and Justice.

Her time at Villanova has been full of a plethora of internships and extracurriculars. Her first internship occurred during the summer after her Freshman year at a lifestyle website and video editing agency firm near her house called “Hip New Jersey.” There she wrote blog posts and contributed to social media marketing. Overall, she found it to be a good learning experience.

Her second internship, during her sophomore year, was an on-campus one with OUS that came about after she took Kate Szumanski’s ASPD course called Professional Writing. After bonding with Kate, she decided to apply for the position of Strategic Marketing Intern that would serve under Kate. She and the other interns worked together on promotional materials for professional development events, on social media, and on a brand-new transfer guide that would help students who transferred into Villanova.

On working with Kate, Marisa said, “She has been such a resource over the years. I’ve sent her my resumes and cover letters to read, or she’ll forward me events that she thinks I might be interested in, and she has written me letters of recommendation. So, Kate is definitely the best person, but there are so many people at Villanova who just want to help their students. I think finding someone like that is fundamental to your success. It was nice to find her earlier on in my college experience, rooting for me on campus.”

Then, during her junior year, she had a virtual internship for a luggage company where she helped with social media promotion. She also did part-time volunteer work for a non-profit that encouraged women to run for political offices. For them, she was a public relations intern and wrote press releases and assisted at events and workshops they hosted.

Last summer, she worked as a Retail Marketing Intern at Pierre Fabre Group, a French pharmaceutical company, and dealt with their haircare and skincare brands through product launching and writing copy for their products. She recalled it as one of her favorite internships, because not only did she get free products out of it, but she was able to work for a company that had a global outreach, so she could learn about what goes into working for a global company.  

Currently, she interns for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Media Relations Office. She helps run their Instagram and writes blog posts and press releases. She said, “I have written press releases in my classes, but it’s been great to write real press releases and then also running the Instagram for the college. So, it’s been a cool experience this year since I’m building a portfolio to send out for jobs in the future, and now I can display some of the real-world work that I have been been doing so far.”

She had also made a strong impact on the Villanova Community through her extracurriculars. As a sophomore, she founded Villanova’s chapter of She’s the First, a national non-profit organization that raises money for girls around the world to be the first in their family to graduate from high school. Villanova’s chapter has now sponsored girls in Sierra Leon for tuition for three years and has held many fundraisers on campus like bake sales, Documentary Screenings, and a cheese buffet called Cheese the First.

On founding the chapter, she said, “I watched a documentary called ‘Girl Rising,’ which talked about educational inequities around the world. I also watched it when Michelle Obama was doing her ‘Let Girls Learn Initiative,’ and the impact of Malala’s courage, who was our age, still impacted me. I learned that there wasn’t a club that dealt with girls’ global education at Villanova. Because of that, I began She’s the First here on campus. Now, we train students here at Villanova to be global citizens that learn about educational and gender inequities. I have since passed on the presidential torch to someone else, and it was exciting to see that it’s going to continue after I leave. Starting She’s the First has shaped everything I have done on campus, inspiring me to work for a non-profit someday or a company that is socially responsible.”

She also serves as the Senior Class Representative for the Student Government Association where she also serves as the Chair of the Student Life Advisory Committee, where she manages different issues that might arise in student organizations, residence life, and dining hall services. While not doing work for She’s the First and SGA, she dances in the Dance Ensemble and serves as a Student Ambassador for the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership.

To her fellow Villanovans, she advises them to do as much as possible during their four years. “Go to as much as you can. I’ve tried to go on every sort of trek that Villanova has organized, like the Turner Broadcasting Expedition, visiting Ralph Lauren and Vineyard Vines with the business school, and attending a marketing check at media labs and advertising agencies over winter break. I try, even if I don’t know if I am interested in the industry, to expose myself to different things. I was and still am undecided about the industry that I want to be in, but I try to seize every opportunity to discover my career path by going to Bridge Society Events and other professional development events. Take advantage of everything while you can. Also, get involved where you can see yourself committed four years from now. As time goes on with the classes you take and the people you meet, you will find what you are passionate about.”

My OUS Story: Alison Nieto

Junior Alison Nieto, from Poughquag, New York, claims that she does not need a legacy, instead she wishes to empower others to continue to help one another. Her time at Villanova has expanded her sense of obligation to her community that extends to her position as secretary in the Villanova Voices, as a writer for the Odyssey Community at Villanova University, as the Culture Editor of the Villanovan, as a Tour Time Captain Blue Key, as the West Campus Events Coordinator for Inter-Hall Council, as a member in the Student Alumni Association, and as the initiator of the Puerto Rico Benefit Concerts.

She is a Communications and Spanish Double Major with a Double Concentration in Rhetorical Studies and Public Relations. Like most Liberal Arts students, she came in undecided as a freshman, thinking about both History and Psychology, until she took a Communications course.

She said, “I fell in love with the discipline. I loved thinking about how we use words to make the world around us, how we translate events into language and communicate what that means. I declared Communications because we use language no matter what we do. How we communicate and how we understand how that works and how to use it as a tool is so interesting, because we literally see it everywhere.”

She declared Spanish as a second major due to her heritage, for her father is Puerto Rican and her Grandmother is from there, and also due to her passion for language. “Selfishly, I want to learn as many languages as possible in order to communicate with as many people as possible, because I think it is so close-minded to only talk to one group of people. I want to talk to everybody. Languages connect so many people, and I feel like we need that. We need to be connected.”

Last summer, she worked as an intern Blue Vista 725, a Media Marketing and Promotions Company in Midtown Manhattan, a position that she found through Handshake. There, she fell more in love with New York City and is now determined to work there someday. She admits that she was thrown into the position and had to learn about it as she did it.

“I had no idea what I was doing the first week, but then, I fell in love with it,” she said. “I worked hands on with clients, emailing celebrities like Woody Harrelson, figuring out new angles to market from, and writing Press Releases before I knew what they were. Now I think I want to work in Public Relations or in journalism, at least somewhere in the news cycle. Working there showed me how you can use Public Relations to influence what people think about brands through your words. It is the first perception that you have of the world around you.”

Back during her sophomore year, after witnessing the after-effects of the devastation of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico on Day of Service, including how it destroyed her grandmother’s hometown, Alison knew that she had to act.

She told me that she it sent her on a spiral of thoughts. “I thought about the people on campus from Puerto Rico, people whose family is from Puerto Rico, and no one was talking about it, they weren’t recognizing that it happened and that it’s a catastrophe. So I felt that if the school or the government wasn’t going to say anything, then I would. For me the inspiration was Villanova and how we care about our community on campus and outward. I wanted to take that sense of community and charity and extend it. To tell the people suffering in Puerto Rico that we might not be there experiencing that devastation, but we are here for you. ”

From that moment, Alison was determined to begin the Puerto Rico Benefit Concert. She began by emailing Kate Szumanski from OUS, who she had prior worked with at Kate’s resume workshops, professional development workshops, and who she had made multiple appointments with to improve her career potential. Kate sent her a list of names of people to talk to to get it arranged as fast as possible.

She recalls that “Everyone was really helpful in getting it off the ground from an idea to a tangible event that I was printing flyers for. I also contacted my friends in acapella, asking them to be a part of it, and they immediately said that they were there for me. It was such a relief for me to not worry about it since I had so many people out there helping me and having my back. I felt that sense of community that we talk about over and over again, and it got to the point where other on-campus groups were reaching out because they were motivated by our cause, like the Superlatives and Baila Latino. That for me was the most moving thing that ever happened.”

Her hard work paid off. The first concert raised $2,346, which was all donated to Unidos Por Puerto Rico. That hard work translated into another concert last October that raised $3,000, which is now in the process of being donated to the Hispanic Federation. For that concert, she almost had Lin Manuel Miranda speak, but unfortunately, he was shooting in London at the time. She had found his managers’ contact information at her position at Blue Vista 725, where she had proceeded to email everyone, including booking manager, his publicist, and his father. Those efforts resulted in a personal email from Lin Manuel’s father, and his managers sending over a signed “Hamilton: The Revolution” book to be raffled off at the concert.  

Her main hope, after all of her efforts at Villanova that impacted many lives in Puerto Rico, is that it will be continued in many different forms. “It was really good to see the difference that we can make and how I got people passionate about what I was passionate about that let me affect change. It is great to leave a legacy and be known as someone who did this, but I think for me, I’d much rather my legacy be about the change I created and about the things I did to help people. I want to be successful, but at the end of the day I’m going to measure my life as successful by how many people I was able to help and how much good I was able to do. With that being said, I don’t need a legacy here. It would be great if people remembered, but I want people to feel empowered to do what makes them passionate, to help others, and to be the person that you needed when you were growing up.”

She also told me that she is currently working to get an organization off the ground at Villanova that will be for students like her who want to host charity events for any cause that they are passionate about.

Now, she continues to hope that her work will continue to be reflected on Villanova’s campus. “It is so important that if I can make one person feel empowered to make a change, I think I have done my part. One person really can make a difference, and we made over $5,000 worth of difference. I don’t think I’m special for this, I just want to show others that they can do it.”