Growing up in Weare, NH, the town over from NEC, I was always aware of Henniker but never imagined I’d end up 15 minutes from home attending college. During my first year at NEC, I was an established Communication Studies major working part time at Staples. I went to class, got good grades, went to work, and went back home. It was very routine for me and it wasn’t until my junior year when I joined The NewEnglander than I truly found where I fit on campus.
During that year I began writing my column, Ris Reacts, and began taking on more responsibility on the staff as I began editing my peers’ work and publishing content to the website. I had a new job at TD Bank in Henniker and I got very immersed in the community as I wrote for the paper and worked in the town I went to school in.
Junior year was a very transformative one because I also declared a second major in Business Administration focused on marketing. Up until this point I hadn’t truly found what I liked learning about or what I could imagine myself doing after college and then suddenly, after taking some business courses in conjunction with my communications curriculum, everything clicked.
This led my senior year to be crazy busy as I continued to work at TD Bank, which ultimately closed in Henniker, which led me to a different branch in a different town. I took on the Editor in Chief title while also taking 20 credits worth of courses just to graduate on time, while also still working, and somehow through it all I am proud to rank in the top 10% of the class of 2019.
It had been a crazy four years at NEC, but an insane senior year. When asked about my after-graduation plans, my often answer is that I look forward to having one thing on my plate, rather than the five or six things I’ve been juggling lately. But, being so busy has also taught me a lot about myself and has helped test my limits. I am an excellent multitasker and I have learned that procrastination is never your friend when you have multiple different responsibilities to keep track of. Through all that, I learned that I do my best work under pressure and to always stay focused on the end goal no matter how tough things get.
I am proud to be graduating this spring from New England College with my BA in Communication Studies and my BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. I am incredibly grateful to my parents who always supported me through the busy, stressful days and late nights and my incredible boyfriend, Chad, who helped to keep a smile on my face and made sure I always had dinner despite how jampacked my schedule was. Thank you to Professor William Homestead and Professor Cynthia Martin, my faculty advisers, who saw my potential for success even when I doubted what I was capable of. Thank you for the encouragement from all of my professors throughout my four years and for always lending a listening ear.
After graduation, I plan to work in the marketing and advertising field, and I am looking forward to using the skills I learned at New England College to be successful wherever my career takes me.
