Students who chose the same college choose a variety of paths after graduation.
With the spring semester about halfway through, the class of 2015 is preparing for graduation by filling out applications for jobs, grad school or even post-graduate service.
“Within my major there’s a variety of people doing different things,” senior social work major Laura Nagy said. “Some are going to grad school, some are taking the year off, some are applying to jobs right away and it’s interesting to see the variety.”
According to the school’s mission statement the primary focus of the college is on “academic excellence, leadership development and a commitment to social justice” so that students receive an “education of the heart.”
The social justice curriculum at the college has inspired Nagy to delve further into opportunities that would allow her to work directly with those in need of help. She switched from her original major in education to social work so that she could have more opportunities to work one-on-one with people.
“Right now I’m in the process of applying for year-of-service programs,” Nagy said. “Ever since I was a freshman and got involved with campus ministry I heard about doing a year-of-service and it always sparked my interest.”
Nagy has her eyes set on one program in particular, Good Shepherd Volunteer, although she has kept her options open by applying to multiple programs.
“There’s a lot of different placements working with vulnerable populations,” Nagy said. “For example I could end up working with women who are victims of domestic abuse but there’s a wide range of placements.”
Other students choose to take their knowledge of the common good in different directions.
Alumna Alicia Gould was an education major who graduated last May. She has stuck to the plan she thought she would be on last year as she prepared to graduate, but didn’t choose to help people the same way that Nagy did.
“I’m working full-time as an assistant teacher at Elwyn while I continue to work on getting my certification in teaching so I can branch out and teach a classroom of my own,” Gould said. “I had contemplated grad school but I wanted to get a job first before I decided to go back to school.”
Although Gould was able to get a job in her field right after college, there are a few things that she felt she had been under prepared for when she graduated.
“I think Cabrini could better prepare students to leave college by providing students [more information] on what to expect in the real world and possibly provide them with mock interviews in each major so that they won’t be as nervous when they go on job interviews,” Gould said.
Students may graduate with reservations and fears about life after they leave the school, but for the most part their plans are to continue to work hard with the knowledge that college has allowed them to gain.
Nagy is contemplating whether or not she should apply for grad school now and defer the applications or wait for after her year of service but she hopes to further her education.
“I have a lot of decisions to make,” Nagy said.
