Student and Alumni Outcomes
Bahiya Maouelainin '06 graduated with distinction with a Program of Emphasis in Spanish/Hispanic Cultures. She returned from her semester of study abroad in Spain at Universidad Pablo de Olavide to give a presentation on her research project for distinction, which was titled "Erotismo, prostitucion, virginidad y liberacion de la mujer en la obra de Gabriel Garcia Marquez."
Kristen Robinson '06, who participated in Juniata's French immersion program in Lille following her sophomore year and who studied in Germany during her junior year and in Mexico during her senior year, where she completed an internship in the U.S. embassy in Mexico City during the Spring 2006 semester, has accepted an internship in Shanghai for the spring semester of 2007. The internship is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and will enable Kristen to study Chinese and to work with a number of U.S. businesses that are trading extensively with China.
Eagles Abroad International Scholarships - Eight members of the class of 2010 have been awarded Eagles Abroad International Scholarships, which provide a four-week immersion experience in the target language and culture following the freshman year and a $3,000 scholarship for the junior year abroad at one of Juniata's exchange sites. Alana Bauleke, Tim Breya, Stuart McHenry, and Jen Snider received the award in French, Alex Barnes in German, Ashley Gordon and Kristie Hilliard in Spanish, and Kathleen Vanderau in Russian.
Katie Brigaman teaches French at a high school in Metamoras and is now enrolled in our TESL program to earn a certificate to teach ESL.
Jay Trovato '06 accompanied Juniata's summer Spanish program for high school students in Granada, Spain, which is offered in a partnership with Global Works. He was hired by Northern Middle School in Hagerstown, MD, and began his career as a Spanish teacher this fall.
Rebecca Vonada '06 made a trip back to Ecuador to visit friends following graduation prior to enrolling this fall at the University of Pittsburgh in their Center for Latin American Studies. She also continues to work on the web site of Guatemalan partner Colegio Miguel Angel Asturias (www.colegiomaa.org).
Leah Yingling '06 has accepted a two-year placement with Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) in San Pedro Sula, Honduras at the Hogar de ninos Emanuel. This past summer, she participated in the medical and educational delegations that volunteered at Colegio Miguel Angel Asturias in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.
Carolyn Keller '05 did some extensive traveling--all along the eastern seaboard, out to San Francisco, down to Puerto Rico, and across the Atlantic to numerous sites in England as well as a return visit to Barcelona--prior to accepting a position as an entertainment writer with a newspaper in her hometown of Williamsport, PA. She plans to start graduate studies in the fall of 2007, and is applying to programs in the areas of literature and creative writing.
Katie O'Donnell '05 has accepted a placement with Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) in Brazil, which she will begin in January of 2007. In the meantime, she has accepted a temporary BVS placement working with the transitional housing program of the Gould Farm, a therapeutic psychosocial rehabilitation center for people with mental illnesses located near Boston in Medford, Massachusetts (http://www.gouldfarm.org).
Jamie Peterman '05 was hired by Altoona High School, where she did her student teaching during the spring of 2005, to teach Spanish following her first year of teaching Spanish I in Frederick, Maryland. She is happy to be closer to home and family, and plans to begin work on an M.A. in Latin American literature at Penn State in the spring or the summer of 2007.
Jeremy Weber '05 has enrolled in the graduate program in Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison following his Fulbright year in Peru working with fair trade coffee. While in Peru, Jeremy participated in and won the Strongest Man in the Amazon competition.
Sarah Bellak '04 moved out of her AmeriCorps position with Habitat for Humanity in Dallas, Texas, and into a staff position as a construction supervisor for Habitat. This past summer, she visited her friends in Honduras, where she had volunteered with the Christian Commission for Development following graduation in the summer of 2004.
Maria Bowman '04 completed her M.S. in environmental science at Virginia Tech in the Department of Forestry in August 2006. She has returned to Brazil to continue working on economic development/conservation research as part of the grant work of the Woods Hole Research Center (www.whrc.org). In addition to living and working in Brazil, she hopes to travel and do some work in Africa, probably in Mozambique.
Safiya Maouelainin '04 completed her M.A. in Hispanic Literature at Villanova University in May of 2004. She has enrolled in Johns Hopkins University's doctoral program and plans to specialize in medieval Spanish literature.
Liz Rhodes '04 has begun studies for a law degree at the George Washington University Law School, in Washington, D.C.
Hilary Barnes '03 will complete her M.A. in Spanish Linguistics at Penn State in May of 2005.
Scott Kofmehl '03 will complete his Master's in Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in May of 2005. During the summer of 2004, he worked in the political section of the US Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. He is also the recipient of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to pursue a one-year Master's degree in international relations in England in 2005.
Cyndi Long '03 is a marketing specialist with Protective Coating Co., which manufactures adhesives and epoxies. The company sells internationally, and Cyndi will be making a trip to Puerto Rico in February and to Barcelona in the near future.
Dana Snyder '03 will complete her M.S. in International Economic Development at George Mason University in the spring of 2005. As part of her coursework, she is doing an internship with Transparency-International USA.
Jennifer Bartimole '02 just began a Peace Corps assignment in El Salvador, where she will spend two years as a youth coordinator. If you would like to keep up on her adventures, the link for her blog is http://pc-chica.livejournal.com.
Silvana Garcia '01 is Sales Representative for Mexico at Minitab Inc. in State College, where she has worked since graduation. She travels to Mexico on a regular basis, and reported that her parents are complaining that she now speaks Portuguese with a Spanish accent. She also shared that she is engaged and is planning a summer 2007 wedding and will add the surname.
Ann Parry '01 recently completed her M.A. in Teaching English at a Second Language (TESL) and her second year teaching ESL in an international high school in New York City. She spent a wild six weeks in Peru this past summer, which included two brushes with death on a cable bridge, and will return to NYC for one more year of teaching.
Ellen Peterman '01 Graduate Studies, Great Britain
Rachel Sachetti '01 is in her fourth year of teaching 2nd grade in the Spanish Immersion Program of Fairfax County, Virginia. She is also pursuing her Masters Degree in Multicultural Education with an endorsement in Teaching English as a Second Language at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She has co-authored an article on her bilingual teaching experience which can be accessed at PBS TeacherSource.
David Wilcox '01 joined the collective that owns and operates the Broadway Bicycle School in Boston, a unique, collectively owned, full-service bicycle repair shop. He reports that the people are great, that he enjoys teaching bicycle repair classes, and that the school is a wonderful community resource.
Ashley (Myers) Golden '00 Teaches Spanish at Dover Area School District in Dover, Pennsylvania.
Heather Harrison '00 Teaches high-school Spanish in New Hampshire.
Bridgette Johns '00 Since graduating from Juniata, Bridgette has traveled to Ecuador, Chile, and New Zealand. She is currently in South Africa, and plans to work in an animal rehabilitation lodge in Zimbabwe for the next year.
Bethany Burns '99 finished her M.A. in American History at George Mason University in December of 2003, and has just completed a two-year Peace Corps assignment in Krygyzstan, where she developed and implemented a content-based English program at Osh State University. She will return to the Washington, DC area in December and search for a position which will enable her to combine her interests in educational development and human rights.
Jennifer DeHart Rigby '99 teaches Spanish at North Hunterdon High School in Annandale, N.J., and is also pursuing her M.A. in Bilingual/Bicultural Studies at LaSalle University.
Amber Zahorchak '99 continues to be employed by Nestle's Corporation. Following three years of being based in Switzerland and traveling around the world to audit their operations in English and Spanish-speaking countries, she has been assigned for the past year-and-a half to Nestle's office in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she works as their chief financial officer.
Jasmina Arsova '98 Completed M.A. in Spanish from the Univ. of Nevada, Reno, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Hispanic literature at UCLA. She received a scholarship to conduct dissertation research at Spain's National Library in Madrid, and is preparing her thesis proposal on an interdisciplinary level that incorporates Spanish avant garde and postwar social poetry as well as cultural and gender studies.
Jennifer Ungemach '98 completed a Master's program in sustainable agriculture at the Universidad de La Habana and accepted a position with Ecology Action, based in Willits, California. She works in their research garden and also with their Latin American programming, which involves travel to sites such as Paraguay, Colombia, and back to her beloved Ecuador.
Nat Carney '97 is currently living in Japan and teaching English as a Foreign Language in the Science and Technology department of Kwansei Gakuin University, near Osaka. He received his Master's degree in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) in May 2005 from Penn State.
Ekatarina (Kate) Ivanova '97 Ph.D., Volgograd State Pedagogical University, Russia
Savannah Schroll '97Fulbright Scholar, Germany; MA, University of Pittsburgh; Public Information Officer for the Smithonian Libraries.
Mark Burkardt '96 and Africa Herrera '93 were married in Barcelona in October of 1996. They settled in Mark's home town of Pittsburgh,and both have established successful careers, Africa with Mellon Bank and Mark with United States Steel International. In his new position as account representative for steel processed in Mexico, Mark uses his Spanish constantly and travels on a quarterly basis to Mexico. In July of 2006, Africa and Mark became the proud parents of their first child, Mereia Africa Burkardt, and Mark reports that their beloved dog Luna has gracefully accepted the demotion to second fiddle.
Robert LeSuer '96 Ph.D. Chemistry
Jennifer Jones '94 MA in Women's Studies, Leeds University, Great Britain; Staatsexamen, Music Conservatory, Cologne, Germany
Amy Kahler '94 Law School, Ohio State University
Suzanne (Lydic) Panferov '92 ABD, Linguistics, Ohio State University
Tracey Hagerman Oroxom '91 has been teaching in a variety of capacities since graduation: social/life skills to adults with developmental challenges, ESL to Koreans, elementary school in monolingual (Spanish-speaking) kindergarten and first grade. For the past 5 years she has taught adult ESL to predominantly Mexican immigrants, and plans to complete her Master's in Applied Linguistics at Arizona State University in December 06.
Erin Sheets '91 Ph.D., Chemistry
Jeanette Zalder '91 project manager, www.embark.com
Jani Lewis '88 Assistant Professor of Biology at the State University of New York at Geneseo
Janet E. Mercincavage '76 is in her 28th year at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where she currently is Professor of Accounting and the Vice President for Student Affairs.