Liberal Arts Majors: Communication Arts and Sciences, Labor and Employment Relations
Other Major: Human Resources & Employment Relations (M.S.)
Minor: Business & the Liberal Arts, English, Leadership & Ethics (Certificate)
Hometown: Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania

What was the best part of your experience?

The best part of my experience involved studying the institutional and operational realities of mission-based non-profits in each region. These organizations maximize resources in incredibly nuanced ways, and operate with the discipline of their for-profit counterparts - all the while furthering the lives of those they service. Learning the trade is an art, combining the best practices of international governance, child psychology, and operational effectiveness in business.

How did this experience impact you academically?

Academically, this experience helped me realize the importance of peer-reviewed approaches to localized issues. Often-times, organizations or entities will impose a set of norms onto the populations they service. Our time at Hekima Place especially taught me these collective stereotypes and implicit biases have major impacts in both the organization and the community. You have to engage local partners, thinkers, and change-makers.

"The best part of my experience involved studying the institutional and operational realities of mission-based non-profits in each region."

How will this experience impact your career goals?

This experience grounded me in what's important. The reality is, most of the girls we visited - and many of their community members - won't have near the opportunity to effect meaningful change in issues that affect our entire society: climate change, geopolitics, or international trade. As leaders in a global community, it's up to us to find solutions with cataclysmic externalities and effects on these girls and their communities.

How has the Paterno Fellows Program had an impact on this experience?

The Paterno Fellows Program, through its program and course offerings, instilled a curiosity in me to even want to pursue this opportunity. Without the institutional and financial support of the program, I would never have been able to afford to - nor even have had the desire to - explore the world and everything it has to teach me.