Finance Major
"The faculty and staff in the Eberly College of Business will give you every opportunity to excel in the classroom and eventually in the business world with their guidance and dedication to your future. The direction your professors lead you is a great start, but there is more to be done. Do your part outside of the classroom and you will achieve success that you never dreamed of in your academic and personal journey."
"I am from North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and attended Norwin High School. Being only about one hour from IUP, I was in a great location to make IUP my college choice. Growing up, I had great parents and a brother to make me the person I am today. In high school, I was also surrounded by amazing friends, teachers, and coaches that gave me great opportunities in my education and athletics.
"Due to my close proximity to IUP, I knew that it would be an option when choosing a college. While when I started applying to schools it was not at the top of my list, it quickly became clear after a visit that IUP is where I wanted to spend the next four years.
It was a very snowy and classic Indiana, Pa. winter day when I visited Eberly and IUP. I was instantly drawn to IUP because of Eberly, and the amazing facilities I viewed while visiting IUP. Eberly's Honors Business gave me the opportunity to get a more personalized and challenging education. Throughout my four years here at IUP, Eberly has improved even further with the addition of a state of the art Bloomberg Lab, where I have spent countless hours with many of the top finance students to work on and talk about finance on top of the line software and equipment.
"At IUP, I was involved with many extracurricular activities, including being the portfolio manager of the Student Managed Investment Portfolio. During my time in SMIP, I saw the portfolio total increase to over $1.5 million. Working alongside the chief investment officer, we saw SMIP make huge strides toward future success of the organization. While I spend a lot of time working with SMIP, a large portion of my time here at IUP was dedicated to the IUP track and field team.
"I was fortunate enough to be able to be a member of the IUP track and field team. Competing in collegiate athletics was not a goal of mine until later in high school, and I had a hard time achieving that goal when I first arrived at IUP. After a tryout I became a walk-on, and my senior year was voted by my teammates and coaches to be a captain. As captain I was given the opportunity to lead and hopefully have a positive impact on my teammates. Being on the track and field team has taught me skills that I could never have obtained just being a student that goes to class and that is it. Being on a collegiate team involves many hours of hard work and makes those times that you are not in class or training that much more sacred.
"I believe the focus and time management skills I obtained here at IUP will set me apart from other students in the work force. Track and field has opened even more opportunities for me such as internships and jobs, and other organizations such as Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Through FCA I was able to go on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic and gain a whole new prospective on life.
"Following graduation, I plan to move to Maryland and work for ASRC Federal as a program control analyst, where I interned the summer between my junior and senior year."