“May 2013 graduation feels like a lifetime ago.  Life has been a whirlwind since then.  I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.  I have been working as a Certified Pharmacy Tech, starting out in retail and recently making the transition to long term care.  I believe I have found my passions to lie as a mix between psychology and pharmacy and am looking deeply into becoming a Licensed Substance Abuse Treatment Practitioner.  Still not set in stone, so we shall see where life takes me!”

Thanks for the update, Cindy. Many of us take a winding path to find our place. Please keep us in the loop!

In her own words:

Jordan May Roanoke College, 2013

B.S. Health and Exercise Science

Minor: Psychology

Soccer. Travel. More soccer. More travel.

Since graduating from Roanoke in 2013, the past 2 plus years have been a whirlwind. The summer after graduation I relocated to Lewiston, Maine to start my position as an Assistant Women’s Soccer coach at NCAA Division III institution, Bates College. My day-to-day tasks consist of helping our head coach, Kelsy Ross (Roanoke College ’05), with practice planning, facilitating team communication, coordinating community events and community service, coaching in training sessions, recruiting, scouting opponents, and taking care of travel arrangements, as well as game-day responsibilities. In addition to my duties at Bates, in our collegiate off-season, I help out at a local club, Seacoast United Maine, in various aspects of trainings with kids as young as 7 up to 18. To say I had no idea how much thought, time, and energy it takes to help run a collegiate athletics program (or even just a 2 hour training session), is an understatement. To be on the other side of the lines is truly an eye opening, humbling experience. My four years at Roanoke as a student-athlete was is a time that I reflect upon on a daily basis. My writing and critical thinking skills were really formed during that time and help to analyze and dissect the good and the bad of our squad, routinely. Being a coach isn’t just about teaching the X’s and O’s and developing players in practice, but also about forming bonds and relationships with your them to understand what makes them tick. Figuring out that what works best for one player, might not be the same for another, and so on, is a real challenge!

In the future, I hope to go back to school to obtain a masters degree in the field of Sports Management or Sports Psychology while also continuing to coach.

Jordan, we are proud of what you have achieved and are pleased your degree is serving you well. Keep us updated! We know you’ll be successful obtaining your Masters.

“After graduating from Roanoke I stayed in Salem for two years working as a community based counselor for the National Counseling Group. Then, I moved back home to DC and have been working for the past two years as an Analyst/Human Capital Consultant for a company called R3 Government Solutions.”

Kayla Paxton is now working as a service facilitator and office manager at Family Links! It is so rewarding to see our alum actively making a difference in the lives of others.

Kacy Dillon has accepted a position as a therapeutic day treatment counselor at Intercept Youth Services. She starts next week. Congrats, Kacy!

Katy Hurst (B.S., Psychology, 2013) spent the past two years living in Antigua, Guatemala where she worked at the newly established Antigua International School (AIS). AIS is a college preparatory K-12 school that serves nearly 200 students from diverse cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds. It is the first school of its kind in Guatemala, combining a world-class, internationally accredited education with an unprecedented financial aid program and curriculum centered around service. Katy’s role in the school was as both an Admissions and Development Officer. As part of the development team, Katy worked to procure the funds for the scholarship program that served 50% of the student population including many students from rural villages. She also helped to establish the school’s admissions process and policies and especially enjoyed using her psychology background to assess social, emotional, and academic readiness to ensure that each student was placed in an environment in which he or she could thrive. Katy loved watching students develop a new language and experience learning on deeper levels than ever before. She will most certainly draw on this experience as she begins work on her Master of Education degree in Human Development Counseling at Vanderbilt University next fall.

Ashley has accepted a case worker position with the Local Office on Aging (LOA) in Downtown Roanoke. Her primary responsibilities are to help aging individuals maintain as much independence as possible and to avoid early institutionalization.

Ashley Johns (’15) accepted a position as a residential counselor at Intercept Youth Services. She reports loving the job and says the kids keep her busy! Congratulations, Ashley.