As a student government Senator, a student representative for the
CSU system, treasurer of People Helping People, and a member of M.A.L.E.S., it may be an understatement to say that junior Scott Nolan is involved around the ECSU campus. Recently accepted as an intern into the Office of Alumni Affairs, that long lists continues to swell.

Scott was intrigued by the intern position after attending an event put on by Alumni Affairs.  Knowing Alumni Affairs’ current intern, Scott asked her how she achieved her position. She then introduced Scott to the Alumni Affairs’ Director. After utilizing some of Career Services’ resources to polish up his resume and cover letter, it didn’t take very long for Scott to land the internship for the upcoming spring semester.

“It’s really all about networking and who you know,” Scott said about obtaining an internship. “You never know who is going to turn around and end up helping you. It is important to always be prepared and professional as possible.”

Scott is also a Political Science major with a planned graduation date of 2012. He hopes to attend law school upon graduation and currently works for the Student Activities Office.

Double majoring in Psychology and Political Science, junior Carline Charmelus is used to having a lot on her plate.  Yet to be full, Carline is currently taking on an internship with CT Legal Services, which she believes will help her obtain her ultimate goal of attending law school.

During her sophomore year, Carline went to the Career Services Office looking for an internship for the summer. After checking out the Eastern Experience website, Carline decided that an internship at CT Legal Services would be a great fit for her.

“When I first went to my interview, I almost didn’t take it because I found out it was a two-semester internship (for the summer and fall),” Carline said. “I thought, ‘oh my Gosh, I don’t know if I want to do that,’ but it’s been worth it because I have learned so much.”

Carline is not new to the Career Services office. The staff has been helping her with her career goals since she first came to ECSU.

“I have been meeting with Career Services since my first semester of my freshman year,” she said. “My career counselor in high school told me to get involved with Career Services right away and now I think I’ve become almost dependent on [Career Services Director] Nancy.”

Spending a lot of time in the Career Services office certainly paid off for senior Lauren Guerrere. During her junior year, Lauren began looking for an internship to fulfill her communication major’s requirement. She eventually found one in the public affairs office of Purdue Pharma over the summer, where she worked as a writing intern. But needing the money during the summer months, Lauren made the choice of working for cash instead of credit. Consequently, when this fall semester rolled around, she was still in need of an internship to receive credit for her major.

Knowing Lauren from time spent in her office, Career Services director Nancy Decrescenzo informed Lauren of an internship opportunity with the Connecticut State University System. Jumping on the prospect, Lauren was soon hired, again as a writing intern in a public affairs office.

“Nancy told me that the CSU System was looking for someone, so I sent in my resume and writing samples,” said Lauren. “Everything was sent to them by Thursday and I received a call back from a woman that Friday.”

  Now having successfully obtained two internships, Lauren is not new to the job search and shared some advice to fellow students seeking out internship opportunities. “Definitely get onto the Experience website and look into what they’re posting,” she said. “Experience can help guide you in the right direction for an internship.”

Senior AnnMarie Clarke has been a hard-working student from the get-go. Majoring in both business and communications, her four years at ECSU certainly haven’t been an easy ride. “I originally started off with business as I took a lot of business in high school,” said Clarke. “Then I took a communication’s class in my freshman year as an LAC requirement and I just fell in love with it from there.”

In the last few months, AnnMarie has searched out two internships, one for business and one for communications. Her first internship came last summer working for Aflac insurance company, which she found through a career fair held at Eastern. Being a requirement for all communications majors to take part in an internship in the communications field, AnnMarie began pursuing a second internship, this time in the media. After having a difficult time in her search, AnnMarie decided to make use of Career Services. Finally, with the helpful information that Career Services had given her, AnnMarie obtained a position with the popular Willimantic radio station WILI.

Not a newcomer to the Career Services office, AnnMarie is pleased with all the assistance that Career Services has given her. “I have been attending almost every event that Career Services has put on since my sophomore year,” she said. “I always send them copies of my resume and do mock interviews. They throw the tough questions at me so I’m aware of what could be asked.”

Good luck in your future internship AnnMarie!

For Colton Crosdale, taking an internship during his sophomore year really paid off – literally. Two years ago, Colton successfully found an internship with MetLife Insurance Company. Now a senior at ECSU with a business administration major and communications minor, Colton is still employed with MetLife and works with the insurance company during his winter and summer breaks.

During his sophomore year, when Colton was searching for an internship, Career Services led him to INROADS -- an organization whose mission statement is to “develop and place talented minority youth in business and industry and prepare them for corporate and community leadership.” Utilizing the tools that INROADS gave him, Colton was given the opportunity to work at MetLife.

With MetLife, Colton has worked as a documentation specialist and claim manager. He also traveled to New York and New Jersey with the company where he gave presentations for some of the top executives in the corporation.  “Working with people who have degrees has been cool,” Colton said. “They gave me a lot of help on what I can do with my major and career. I have a good sense of what’s out there after doing this.”

Other than MetLife, Colton is a heavily involved member of M.A.L.E.S. and works at the Planning and Institutional Research center at ECSU as a web designer and research analyst assistant.

This week’s success story is all about junior Levar Mitchell. This summer, Levar made it a goal that he would find himself an internship. So dedicated he was to finding work, that he met with Career Services almost three times a week during his break! The dedication paid off as Levar is now in the process of working out an internship/part time job with Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

What did Levar do during his meetings with Career Services?  “Career Services updated me with all the information needed to find an internship and helped me improve and double check my resume,” he said. “They also had me answer questions that could be asked during the interview process.”

Being extremely active on the ECSU campus, Levar is an Office Assistant for Winthrop Hall, S.G.A. senator and M.A.L.E.S. member. With a major in Sports Leisure Management, one may find it strange that Levar will now be working for a car company.

As a sports enthusiast, how did Levar get a job with Enterprise? “It’s been something I have been interested in since a young age,” Levar said. “Talking to (career counselor’s) Cliff and Nancy at Career Services, one of the best opportunities I heard of was with Enterprise. It caught my eye.”

 Levar also gave some words of advice to fellow students looking for work or an internship.

Abhishek’s first internship was for Cronin and Company last spring. A marketing firm in Glastonbury Connecticut, Cronin and Company used their new intern to evaluate the company’s expenses and determine why certain costs were higher from month to month. Apparently still hungry for statistics, Abhishek continued crunching numbers over the summer, this time with Northeast Utilities. “Northeast Utilities is a huge public company,” said Abhishek. “There are only five guys that work for accounting at Cronin, but there could be at least a thousand at Northeast.”

But just because Abhishek was able to come across two internships doesn’t mean he got lucky. Abhishek spent weeks, maybe months, searching for employers. “At one point I was really frustrated,” he said. “I attended a career fair in Hartford and was able to talk to many employers there. I highly recommend other students research jobs on their own.” After the fair, Abhishek met with Career Services on numerous occasions to polish off his resume and communication skills. When the employers came calling for a follow-up interview, Abhishek was ready.

Abhishek proves that hard work and dedication do eventually pay off. He now has two accounting internships under his belt and is prepared to be an accountant upon graduation. Best of luck in the future Abhishek!

According to Melissa, the work she did wasn’t always easy, as she put a lot of effort into skimming over poems, articles, fiction, non-fiction, etc., to see if the stories were worth her editor’s time. Yes, Melissa could sometimes determine if a person’s writings had a chance to be published or were thrown in the trash!

“I had to read a lot of manuscripts and go through all the slush,” said Melissa. “Anything that I thought was good was passed on to the editor. It was a lot of responsibility.”

Before heading out to the Big Apple, Melissa was worried that she wouldn’t be able to afford the costs of living in New York and would have to decline the internship. But after making an appointment with Career Services, Melissa realized that she was able to make the financial commitment.

Did Melissa make the right choice of leaving Connecticut? “It was definitely worth it,” she said.

With her preparations in order, Samantha was in competition with ten other students to fill three individual positions in NU’s Internal Audit Department. One of the positions being offered was a Safety and Security Audit, which turned out to be perfect for her even though it had a few off-hours. After speaking with two men in the Systems Security Department about the position, she told them about her experience with Andover Continuum, a security system used here at Eastern. This really set Samantha apart from the rest of the applicants; just a year ago, NU adopted the very same security system!

As part of the Accounting Society, employers are constantly coming in to speak with Samantha and the other members. That is where the help from Career Services was referred. Over the past year, career counselors have helped perfect her résumé and have also helped her to discover her own confidence. “I had a hard time opening up to strangers at the first career fair in October,” she states. “But I quickly learned from a counselor that if you don't promote yourself and say ‘I'm worth your time, let me prove it to you,’ then it's going to be really difficult to stand out in the crowd.”

Attending Eastern’s recent Career Fair really paid off for senior Greg Fanska! The Career Fair was held by the Office of Career Services on April 1 and over 55 employers were in attendance. Only five days after meeting with representatives from CIGNA at this event, Greg was called to schedule an interview for a full-time position that he could potentially have after graduation.

CIGNA is a health service company whose mission is to help people improve their health, well-being and security. In this global organization, Greg was recently interviewed for a position as a Network Analyst in their Proposal Management Department. If hired for the position, Greg will be responsible for handling a variety of different tasks. These tasks include assisting in the production of sales proposal materials to employ product marketing strategies, producing information materials for communications media to reach the maximum number of prospects, assisting in activities such as sales kit preparation and display arrangement, and coordinating activities involved in the preparation of sales proposal, advertising, sales promotion and publicity in support of the marketing of company products.

Greg will graduate from Eastern this May with a degree in Business Administration and Business Information Systems, including concentrations in Management and Operations Management. In the meantime, he hopes to hear back from CIGNA with the good news that he will be offered a job after graduation.

Junior Roy Patterson is yet another Eastern student who has scored an opportunity with Enterprise Rent-A-Car. This summer, he will be interning through their Management in Training Program and will be learning the ins and outs of the company so that he can eventually lead a team of his own one day.

After seeing multiple posters and flyers and speaking with other students who have found jobs and internships with the help of Career Services, Roy decided to give it a shot. “I didn’t really have an idea on how the process of getting an internship went,” he states. “But when I went to Career Services, they told me the difference between paid and unpaid internships and gave me all of the necessary tools to be successful in obtaining one.” A career counselor also helped Roy make corrections to his résumé and gave him a list of internship opportunities, which is where he found Enterprise.

Roy plans to graduate from Eastern in 2011 with a degree in Business Administration and concentrations in Marketing and Human Resources. In the meantime, he hopes that his future experiences at Enterprise will enable him to become a successful leader someday.

While working at the VETS Center here on campus, it was very easy for Mark to stop by the Office of Career Services any time that he needed advice or information. He initially met with a career counselor at the beginning of the school year to review and update his résumé, and also received suggestions on jobs to apply for. Part of the advice he received was to go directly to company websites and apply through there, as well as post a résumé on EXPERIENCE and other online resources. After doing that, he met with another career counselor who encouraged him to pursue a career at Enterprise. “The counselors were very helpful and I believe that their advice played an important role in my applying to Enterprise,” he states.

Ginger was first informed about the position through one of the many informative e-mails sent daily to students from the Office of Career Services. After working with a career counselor to help make her résumé professional and respectable, she then sent it to be evaluated and was later contacted for an on-campus interview. “Ever since I met my career counselor,” she states, “she has made me feel that her door was always open to me throughout my time here at Eastern.”

Having the opportunity to also intern with the Office of Career Services was a plus for Lauren. While interning, she was able to clearly recognize all of the support services that the career counselors had to offer, and also witnessed the success that came from working with them. Sure enough, Lauren also received guidance from a career counselor, just as she had seen so many other students do. She received help revising and constantly updating her résumé, as well as formatting and writing her reference list.

Lauren plans to graduate in spring 2011 with a Bachelors Degree in Communication and a double minor in political science and business administration. After graduation, she hopes to get a job in New York City, where it is closer to her home in Long Island. In the meantime, however, she is sure to stay busy interning at SCG Legal PR Network and being Vice President of Eastern’s PRSSA.

Deciding on a major was a difficult task for Abby. “I’d never taken a career aptitude test in high school,” she states, “so I wasn’t aware of these assessment tools or how they could help.” Luckily, with the help from a career counselor and such resources as FOCUS and Holland’s Self-Directed Search, Abby was able to narrow her major down to five possible choices in the first visit alone! Then, after looking at the required courses and potential career opportunities for each major, the list narrowed down even further.

In the past, Abby had never considered sociology as a possible major?not even while taking Introduction to Sociology last semester. However, she now feels that it is the best choice for her. “I think I’m on the right track,” she proudly states.

With frequent help from a career counselor, Dave went through the steps in developing a résumé and was introduced to all of our online resources, such as EXPERIENCE. Luckily, after creating an account with EXPERIENCE to receive job and internship postings, it did not take long before an opportunity presented itself.

Dave is currently gaining knowledgeable experience interning with the Marketing Bureau of the Department of Agriculture. Some of his tasks include updating local farm maps and marketing a coloring book, which a close friend actually designed. He enjoys all of his time spent interning, and says that he is “really learning important things about the marketing field.”

Dave will graduate from Eastern this May with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and a double concentration in Marketing and Management. As for future aspirations, he hopes that interning with the Department of Agriculture will help open doors to new future career opportunities.

With guidance from the Office of Career Services, senior Brittany Tripp is currently employed full time at RMI as a Marketing Specialist. In this position, she is responsible for generating leads through trade shows and web resources, as well as preparing marketing materials and a yearly marketing plan. Having received a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing, and a minor in Digital Art and Design, Brittany was very fortunate to get a job doing exactly what she went to school for.

When Brittany was first accepted to Eastern, she remembers looking through information booklets and seeing a list of companies that former Eastern students were working for. In that moment, she knew that Career Services could offer the resources to help find paid internship and a rewarding job at a successful company.

Once an appointment was scheduled, a career counselor showed her how to use online resources to find a job and also provided many résumé reviews. The service guides available through Career Services were also a big help, like the “Guide to Cover Letters,” “Guide to Résumés” and “Guide to Interviews”.

Brittany completed her degree in December and plans to attend the commencement this May. In the meantime, she will be learning and making the most of her experience at RMI.

While taking a summer course, Kate received résumé tips and was informed on all of the ways that Career Services could help her reach her goals. Before that point, however, she did not have a résumé put together and had no knowledge of what to expect during a formal interview.  Fortunately, a career counselor was able to work with her to help her form a cover letter, improve her résumé, and provide her with mock interviews. Just one week after the meeting, she received a call back for an interview with the Discovery Channel. Two weeks after that, she was called back for a second interview. The rest is history.

Kate plans to graduate from Eastern this spring with a Bachelors Degree in Creative Writing and Production Studies. Later, she hopes that her internship with Animal Planet will help open doors for her to land a rewarding job for the future.

Having joined the Eastern community from China and with Chinese as her primary language, senior Fang Cui had to work harder than most students to achieve her goals. Luckily, with help from Career Services, Fang was offered a co-op at United Technologies Corporation (UTC), based in Hartford, Connecticut. Some products manufactured by UTC include Carrier heating and air conditioning, Otis elevators and escalators, Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines and Sikorsky helicopters. Being an accounting major, she will be learning and gaining experience in their financial department.

Fang is part of Eastern’s Accounting Club, which is where a professor recommended that she utilize the help that Career Services has to offer. While spending time with a career counselor, Fang refined and perfected her résumé. She also partook in mock interviews to familiarize herself more with the English language. “Because I am not native to the United States, the mock interviews really helped,” she states. “The career counselors had me answer questions that they knew would be asked.”

Fang plans on graduating from Eastern in spring 2010 with the hopes of receiving a job offer from UTC. Later, she plans on acquiring her Masters Degree in Accounting.

Recently, Joshua pursued a job lead sent to him by one of Eastern's career counselors. He secured at position at CDW, as their Higher Education Account Manager. CDW is a company which provides IT services and products for the government. Joshua sees himself as a Technology Solutions Consultant, hopefully working in a larger corporation.

Josh is very active in Kiwanis, which is an organization that works to develop future leaders through guidance and support from mentors and volunteers. Additionally, Josh plays the saxophone and keys in a band entitled "Get in get out." In his spare time, Josh enjoys hiking, producing music and spending time with friends and family.

Joshua would like to thank the Career Services department and professors Citurs, Brown, Lowy, Desroches, Liu and Free for all of their help throughout the years.

After Charles' graduation from Eastern, he worked for numerous companies which included the Chronicle, Stonebridge press, ESPN and the Norwich Bulletin. During his time working at the newspapers Charles utilized his degree in Communication as a journalist and during his time at ESPN, Charles worked as a production assistant. Recently, Charles was offered a position with the State Auditors as their cooperative education intern which he gladly accepted. Throughout the years, Charles visited Career Services for help with his resume writing and cover letters. Before applying for a job, Charles would bring his resume and cover letter for critiquing by a career counselor. Charles says "I would encourage more students to capitalize on the many opportunities that are offered by Career Services."

In addition to his internship, Charles is the president of IMA, is an active member of the accounting society and has made the Dean's List several times. Upon graduation, Charles would like to see himself working for the government and auditing in Windham.

Ashley, a transfer student from the University of Connecticut utilized Career Services from her start at Eastern. She met with a career counselor who helped her with her resume and taught her how to write a cover letter. She kept in touch with Career Services when applying for jobs. They offered their assistance to help personalize each cover letter and resume depending on the position.

Ashley is currently applying to Graduate School where she hopes to receive her Masters in Art Therapy so that she can work with children in hospitals. To jump start the process, Ashley spent this past summer studying abroad in Italy to receive credit for art classes that would count towards her masters. She says "It was awesome to be in a different culture, to step out of my comfort zone and test myself."

Jacqueline graduated from Eastern with a History and Social Science degree with a minor in Sustainable Energies. Additionally, she has an associate's degree in Early Childhood Education. Although she is very proud of her degree, her passion lies in environmental science. Jacqueline used Career Services to help her write her cover letter and resume and says "I have been numerous times to get my resume and cover letters checked over but it is always nice to know that there is an encouraging crew backing you up in the grueling process that applying for jobs can be; especially when you think you have the wrong degree. Career Services provides much more than resume building and cover letter writing but generous support especially when you're really not even sure what you want to do or can do with the degree, you once felt so confident in."

While at Eastern, Jacqueline was very active on campus. She served as an executive board member as secretary for Eastern Outdoors Club which is a club that encouraged "No Student Left Inside" while observing an environmental ethic. Additionally, she aided in the creation of the Environmental Club. She was also very active in volunteer work and spent a week in 2007 in New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity. She plans to continue and engage in numerous volunteer opportunities.

"Platt" as friends like to call her also received numerous awards. She was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, made the Dean's List and received a Sustainable Energies Award in 2008 as well as the Environmental Stewardship award in 2009.

Recent graduate Abnel Navarro of Willimantic , CT , has just recently started his first job post graduation! During his time at Eastern, he majored in social work and made the Dean's List. Throughout his college career, he visited Career Services where he met with a career counselor numerous times to help him build his resume. Additionally, Abnel used the resources provided by Career Services to help him with his cover letter and to create a draft of his resume, using Optimal Resume. Career Services kept Abnel updated with any new job postings that would be interesting to Abnel in the field of social services.

Currently, Abnel works for the North American Family Institute (NAFI) as a functional family therapist. He says "I kept in touch with Career Services after graduating. They continued to send job postings, offered their services and answered any questions that I had about the job search process." Future plans include, graduate school at the University of Connecticut where he hopes to receive his Masters of Social Work.

Recently, sophomore Omar Rodriguez was offered an internship position with Northwestern Mutual as a life insurance agent. Before receiving the opportunity with the company, Omar had been very proactive and had visited career services to help him with his resume. Not only did he utilize Career Services but he also used Optimal Resume to help him create his resume. Omar met several times with a career counselor to help him prepare his resume and to conduct a mock interview. Omar says the mock interview "was helpful and made me feel confident." All of his preparation paid off because in the spring, Omar will be starting his new job.

Omar is also very active around campus. Currently he is involved with MALES, OLAS and CAB and serves as MALES Public Relations officer. Omar says that "being involved in organizations such as MALES, OLAS and CAB helped me mature as a leader."

As a recent graduate from Eastern in May 2009, Ricky Hernandez says his favorite quote is, "Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard at it." This is a truly inspirational quote especially for a recent graduate, who was just offered his first job.

During his time at Eastern, Ricky was very active on campus. He was involved with several campus activities including MALES, where he served as the community service advisor, OLAS where he was an executive board member as treasurer and was also a member of the West Indian Society. Ricky says that one of his most memorable experiences was when he visited Africa for two weeks with his Development and Change in Africa class. While at Eastern, Ricky remained close with the career counselors who helped him update his resume and cover letter as he gained new experience. The career counselors would send him any job openings that they thought would suit him. During his time in Africa, a career counselor sent him a position as a juvenile detention officer. This position was a great fit for him because he was receiving his degree as Sociology major and minor in Criminology.

Currently, Ricky resides in Wethersfield and works in Hamden where he was offered the job at Community Partners in Action as their Juvenile Detention officer. Ricky's ultimate career goal is to work as a probation officer in Hartford.

Call her a member of the Civic Generation. Political Science major, Olivia G. Puckett is among the few Girl Scouts in the United States to attain the highest rank of Gold Award in 2008. Olivia earned her award for community service and leadership. Her project led her to serving in her town government office during her freshman year at Eastern.

Olivia's interest in public service and government propelled her as a freshman to join and fulfill a one year stint as a leader in AmeriCorps, serving as a recruiter of Girl Scout leaders in the region. During her sophomore year, Olivia attended the spring career fair and spoke with the representatives from the Eastern Connecticut District Social Security Office.

Her background in public service must have impressed the representatives. A few days later she received an e-mail inviting her to interview for a federal summer internship. Olivia utilized Career Services and scheduled an appointment with a career counselor to prepare with a mock interview. The practice and feedback were invaluable during her real interview. Olivia explains, "I felt very prepared for this important interview and I highly recommend this service to every student. I felt confident after the real interview!"

Having been sworn into the position, she looks forward to learning about all the federal programs and services offered to citizens. "Thanks to Career Services, I have an extraordinary opportunity to service the public in a federal position."Her future goals include returning to work for another summer in the Social Security Administration, finding a full time position in the agency, attending graduate (law) school, and working in a government policy making capacity.

Look for Olivia to continue to aim high, reach out to others and make a difference in her civic generation.

Senior Kenton Webley of Norwalk , CT has been welcomed by Target as their executive team leader after graduation. During his freshman year, Kenton was incredibly proactive and visited career services to find out about internship opportunities that he could apply for. The following year Kenton was offered an internship position with General Electric but respectfully declined their offer.

During the summer of 2008, Kenton was offered an internship position as executive team leader with Target where he managed and led a team of three hundred people. He impressed his supervisors so much that they extended his internship and invited him back for the summer of 2009. Kenton says that the hardest part was "delegating tasks to elders which made me uncomfortable."

Kenton also utilized Inroads which is a program that places diverse students with companies, specifically fortune 500. He believes that Inroads was an enormous help throughout his internship, thanks to help of an advisor which was assigned to him through the program.

Additionally, Kenton is active on campus and is a member of the entrepreneurs club. He also volunteers for many programs through Inroads, from which he is a proud graduate.

Kadisha Webley, class of 2011, has earned many accomplishments and can add one more to her resume! Recently, Kadisha visited career services and received help writing her resume and searching for an internship. In addition to the help of a career counselor, she also utilized Optimal Resume to create her resume, which she believes is a great tool that students should take advantage of.

Kadisha applied for an internship position at Marrakech Incorporated and received an offer which she gladly accepted. Currently, she works towards her Bachelor of Social Work degree and a career in Social Services. She is excited about the opportunity to move up in the company.

Kadisha believes that her background as a peer mentor and her experience working in the office of AccessAbility will help her in her endeavors. She is also proud to say that she has been on the Dean's List numerous times. Kadisha says that "Without Career Services the opportunity would not be possible."

Mary-Francis Plaza , class of 2011, is gaining great experience which will prepare her for a career in communications. Recently, the office of Institutional Research offered Mary-Francis a position as their communication intern. As a communication major the opportunity was one that she could not pass down. Mary Francis utilized career services and scheduled an appointment with a career counselor to learn about the internship opportunity and to get assistance with writing an effective resume and cover letter.

Mary-Francis is also active on campus as a CAB assistant for weekend events where she promotes and oversees events. She also is a technology crew member and helps to set up audio visual equipment for numerous events held on campus. Additionally, Mary-Francis has volunteered for organizations such as Fit Kids Fun Camp, Isaiah 58 and Jesus People USA.

Mary-Francis believes that "Career Services offers students a great opportunity by preparing them for a professional setting." She encourages students who have not taken advantage of career services, to visit and learn more about their many resources.

Jennifer plans to bring all the knowledge and experience she gained back to Eastern and will continue to organize a grass roots effort for social justice.  Ms. Paradis will graduate in December of this year with a degree in Sociology.  She plans to attend graduate school in 2010 and return to Capitol Hill in the future.