Class of 2020 shares success stories
From advanced degree programs to positions with Fortune 500 companies to post-graduate service opportunities, members of the Class of 2020 are finding success in their chosen fields. Graduating students and their faculty and staff mentors were recently invited to submit success stories to SALVEtoday, which are listed below.
To learn more about Salve Regina’s 2020 graduates, visit salve.edu/2020-success.
Editor’s note: Members of the Class of 2020 are invited to submit additional sucesss stories to seniorsuccess@salve.edu.
Sarah Aguiar
B.A. in Psychology, Minor in History
Aguiar will remain at Salve Regina to complete her master’s degree in applied behavior analysis. “I plan on becoming a board-certified behavior analyst in a clinical or school setting,” she said. “I would eventually love to open my own practice or be a leader in a practice.”
Lauren Arpin
B.A. in Psychology
Arpin will move to Nashville for a year of service with Catholic Charities of Tennessee through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, working with the refugee elders and youth programs. “I am proud to have been selected though their competitive program, to be a part of their mission in creating change at the front lines of social justice,” she said.
Drew Balestrieri
B.S. in Financial Management, Minors in Accounting and Business Administration
Balestrieri will remain at Salve Regina to complete his MBA, and plans to pursue a career in financial advising. “I learned the valuable lesson of accountability while balancing school, social life and playing college football,” he said. “I became more productive when I was the busiest because I was on a strict routine, and that helped me see improvements in my academics.”
Jillian Brooks-Duval
B.A. in English Communications, Minor in Business Administration and Theatre Arts
Brooks-Duval has been hired as a character performer at Walt Disney World as part of the Disney College Program. “Disney has always been my dream, so to be able to say I am achieving it is the best feeling in the world,” she said. “In the future, I plan to keep auditioning. I would love to be a performer on cruise ships while I am young so I can also see the world, but eventually I want to get into casting.
Kathleen Christ
B.A. in American History and Religious and Theological Studies, Minor in Secondary Education
Christ will enroll in Providence College’s Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers program, through which she will earn her master’s degree in education while teaching middle school social studies and religion at Espirito Santo School in Fall River, Massachusetts. “I would love to continue working in Catholic schools, or wherever God leads me,” she said. “At the end of the day, I just want to inspire people to love learning and cultivate a personal spiritual life.”
Amanda Corp
B.A. in Administration of Justice and Psychology, Minor in History
In addition to working as an annual giving officer at Salve Regina, Corp is completing her master’s degree in applied behavior analysis and graduate certificate in cybersecurity and intelligence at the University. “My dream is to work with high-profile criminals and their victims,” she said. “I have always been so interested in how the minds of criminals work and why they act the way they do. Through internships with special victims’ units and other factions of police departments, my passion for learning more about the criminal mind has heightened.”
Makenzie Curr
B.A. in Psychology
Curr will join Child & Family in Middletown as a case manager for elderly services, and will also pursue a master’s degree in holistic clinical mental health counseling at Salve Regina. “I would love to become a positive psychologist to create positive changes in our public school systems,” she said. “I also see myself as a professor at Salve or a similar institution that is community based.”
Delaney Daly
B.A. in Cultural and Historic Preservation, Minor in Art History
Daly is pursuing a position with a local museum and will be applying to the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture at the University of Delaware for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Michaela Darragh
B.S. in Early Childhood Education, Minors in Dance and Special Education
Darragh will join Providence College’s Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers program, teaching kindergarten at All Saints Catholic School in New Bedford, Massachusetts while completing a master’s degree in literacy.
Vanessa DiPietro
B.S. in Administration of Justice, Minor in Psychology
DiPietro will serve as a City Year AmeriCorps member, mentoring students in the Boston school system. “After serving at least one term with City Year Boston, I plan to work somewhere in the social work or law enforcement realm, and pursue law school,” she added.
Madalyn Drotning
B.S. in Nursing
Drotning has accepted a full-time RN position in the University of Washington Medical Center’s medical-surgical oncology unit as part of a new graduate nurse residency program. “I want to find a way to care for the vulnerable,” she said. “I have ideas of joining Doctors Without Borders, or working as a staff nurse at the UW homeless medical clinics and shelters.”
Lucie Ford
B.S. in Biology, Minor in Chemistry
Ford will enroll in a Ph.D. program at Texas A&M University. “After getting my Ph.D. I would like to go back into academia or work for a pharmaceutical company as a toxicologist,” she said.
Anjali Gordon
B.A. in Global Studies and Sociology and Anthropology
Gordon has worked with many local nonprofits throughout her time at Salve Regina and hopes to continue this work after graduation. “Creating connections through leadership positions, studying abroad, developing Salve Surf Club and much more has allowed me to grow in ways I would have genuinely never imagined walking into Salve as a first-year student,” Gordon said.
Lily Gorman
B.A. in Psychology, Minors in Neuroscience and Spanish
Gorman will seek a position conducting psychological research and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in developmental psychology before beginning a career in autism research.
Abigail Grabherr
B.S. in Accounting, Minor in Business Administration
Grabherr will prepare for the Certified Public Accountant exam and begin working for PwC, one of the world’s “Big Four” accounting firms, in October. “I plan to work in public accounting until I think a switch to a smaller or private firm is best for me,” she said.
Kathryn Hollis
B.A. in Psychology, Minor in Special Education
Hollis is enrolled in Salve Regina’s graduate program in applied behavior analysis and will continue working for the Daniel J. Hollis Foundation. “I thrive on helping others, and put the needs of others before my own,” she said. “I would like to either end up working with children with autism in the school setting or working with adolescents struggling with addictions.”
Chandler Joyce
B.S. in Accounting, Minor in Business Administration
Joyce will pursue a master’s degree in taxation at Bentley University, and will begin working full-time at PwC in Boston after earning the degree. “Eventually, I would like to start my own business providing financial and tax services,” she said. “I worked for Corrigan Financial in Middletown, and I really like the services that they provide as a company. I would like to start a company like that someday.”
Daniel Landino
B.A. in Psychology and Theatre Arts
Landino plans to combine his studies by working as an adolescent holistic clinical mental health counselor specializing in theater-based therapy. “I hope to one day open a private practice for all ages to engage in artistic-based therapy approaches that fosters cultured and healthy emotional expression, especially for underprivileged kids who typically wouldn’t have the means of accessing a robust artistic program,” he said.
Hailey Leclerc
B.A. in Administration of Justice
Leclerc will remain at Salve Regina to complete her master’s degree in administration of justice and homeland security, with a concentration in digital forensics. “My career plan is to work in the field of emergency management and humanitarian disaster response,” she said. “I interned with the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, which solidified that I wanted to work in this field because I was able to see the humanitarian side of emergency response and its promotion of community welfare.”
Eric Lipa
B.S. in Financial Management, Minor in Global Business and Economics
Lipa will move to Boston and begin work at RINET, a wealth management and financial advisory services firm, as an associate client advisor. “My career plans are to continue my education and obtain my master’s degree,” he said. “I also plan to take the CFP exam and become a Certified Financial Planner.”
Angelina Lorenzo
B.A. in Psychology
Lorenzo will continue working as an applied behavior analysis therapist. “I am incredibly grateful to have a job in my field and am excited to see where my degree in psychology brings me beyond this,” she said.
Kyle Majkowski
B.S. in Biology, Minor in Chemistry
Majkowski will pursue a Doctor of Chiropractic degree at the University of Bridgeport. “I look to open my own chiropractic office where I get to treat not only adults but children,” he said. “I also look to open a holistic healing center where I get to help people in a hilltop way.”
Brianna Mayoka
B.S. in Chemistry, Minor in Biology
Mayoka plans to enter a joint Ph.D. program in marine ecology at San Diego State University and the University of California Davis. “My research will involve looking at how humans affect the environment, specifically evaluating the quality of ocean water and the impact it has on marine life,” she said.
Caroline Nickerson
B.S. in Social Work
Nickerson will manage the long-term care unit at Durgin Pines, a residential nursing home and rehabilitation center in Maine. “My internship at the Rhode Island Veterans Home this past semester solidified my passion for working with the geriatric population, as well as furthered my knowledge in regard to long term care facilities,” she said. “I am excited to be able to continue to serve and support this community, especially in this time of need.”
Isabel Ould-Sfiya
B.A. in Political Science and Psychology
Ould-Sfiya will attend graduate school this fall. “I have been accepted to George Washington University for the master’s program in political management, but I am waiting to hear from other schools before I make my final decision,” she said. “I am hoping for a career in politics, specifically the management side. Being someone’s chief of staff is the dream.”
Jenny Page
B.A. in American Studies, Minor in History
This summer, Page will be a seasonal ranger at the National Park Service’s Boston African American National Historic Site. This fall, she will pursue a master’s degree in public history at James Madison University.
Caroline Parks
B.S. in Social Work
Parks will enter New York University’s Master of Social Work program with advanced standing and will also intern at a local elementary school, working with children who have special needs. “After graduating from NYU next May, I plan to become a licensed social worker and would love to work in pediatric hospice and palliative care,” she said.
Riley Rancourt
B.A. in Administration of Justice and Political Science
Rancourt will spend eight weeks in the U.S. followed by up to nine months in Azerbaijan studying Turkish and Azerbaijani as a David L. Boren Fellowship recipient. His immediate career goals are to find a position within the U.S. government that combine his skillsets in a unique and productive way. “In the future, I hope to work in the Department of Defense or the intelligence community, defending our nation from the increasingly real danger of cyberattacks,” Rancourt said.
Madison Schettler
B.A. in Administration of Justice and Political Science, Minor in Spanish
Schettler plans to take a gap year and attend law school in the fall of 2021. “I completed my degree in three years, and I could not have done it without the help of my family, friends and the supportive Salve community,” she said. “I want to especially thank Dr. Robin Hoffmann and Dr. Clark Merrill for their constant support and guidance throughout my years here.”
Michaela Simon
B.S. in Global Business and Economics, Minor in Accounting
Simon plans to work in the business field for a year and pursue a graduate program or law school beginning in fall 2021. “I could never have graduated in three years without the support of my advisor, Carmel Coughlan, all of the other amazing teachers in the business department that pushed me to do my best,” she said.
Dionysios Skaliotis
B.S. in Financial Management, Minors in Biology and Economics
Skaliotis plans to work in the financial industry and earn his respective licenses. “Moving forward, I will carry Salve Regina’s mission of mercy, forgiveness and philanthropy in all of my business endeavors,” he said. “It has helped shape the man I am, and I know it will continue to shape the man I am becoming.”
Kaitlin Sullivan
B.A. in Administration of Justice, Minor in Spanish
Sullivan is completing her master’s degree in administration of justice and homeland security at Salve Regina. “My all-time career goal is to be a deputy U.S. marshal for the U.S. Marshals Service, and I have actually been in their hiring process since August 2019,” she said.
Christina Taft
B.S. in Biology, Minors in Chemistry and Psychology
Taft will prepare for admission to a physician assistant graduate program and intern as a medical assistant in a primary care office. She hopes to eventually work in a children’s hospital, and is interested in surgical and emergency medicine.
Grace Vargo-Willeford
B.A. in Cultural and Historic Preservation and Sociology and Anthropology, Minor in Studio Art
Vargo-Willeford plans to take two years off before attending graduate school. “Ultimately, I want to be an archaeologist, with a career focused in marine and maritime archaeology,” she said.
Alyssa Vilarino
B.A. in Psychology
Vilarino will pursue a master’s degree in mental health counseling at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education while working at NewYork-Presbyterian’s Behavioral Health Center as a mental health technician. “After I get my master’s and complete my two years of supervised practice, I really want to go back to school and get my Ph.D. in clinical psychology,” she said. “Mental health is my life’s passion and I want to try and help as many people as possible.”
Micayla Yorski
B.S. in Nursing
Yorski will join a new graduate nurse residency program on an acute psychiatric unit at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Connecticut. “Through both my capstone and psych clinical rotations at Bradley Hospital in East Providence, I discovered just how much I enjoyed psych nursing, and I am so excited to pursue a career in this field,” she said. “I hope to eventually go back to school to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner specializing in the treatment of adolescents.”
