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Alumnae Profiles: Genesis Mentors
Ellen Blaha Minerd ’91 + Ellen Weist ’21:
Nursing/Home Care
Ellen Blaha Minerd ’91 is very familiar with the Magnificat Genesis program. Through the years and through a variety of jobs, Ellen has welcomed many Magnificat students to shadow her. Ellen, a Certified Nurse Practitioner, has worn many hats in her career. Her nursing studies began after graduating from Magnificat in 1991, completing her RN, BSN at Ohio Wesleyan University. Ellen has worked in a variety of hospital and healthcare settings, including starting an onsite fitness company. She later continued her education to obtain her MSN degree to become a Certified Nurse Practitioner, with a focus in Adult/Geriatric studies. Since then, she has worked exclusively with the senior population. Her latest venture is Daughters with Degrees, a company she cofounded with another Magnificat alumna, Eileen McGunagle ’86, providing compassionate home care. Ellen has always had a passion for helping others. Her own Magnificat Genesis project took her to Appalachia, where she completed classroom work and provided after school care for children. Fast forward a few years, as an established healthcare professional, she is happy to provide experience for Magnificat students interested in healthcare. Ellen stresses the need for more geriatric healthcare providers since the senior population continues to grow. She believes that the Genesis program gives students important real-life experience and insight into a potential career. Ellen’s most recent Genesis mentee is senior Ellen Weist ’21, who is considering a future in healthcare as well. During her experience at Daughters with Degrees, Weist was matched with a client needing assistance with meal prep, odd jobs around the house, running errands, getting to appointments, and grocery shopping. Weist’s experience gave her real insight into geriatric care, while gaining the skills to provide hands-on, compassionate care for others. “While completing my Genesis, I was truly surprised at how many different careers can come from a nursing degree,” Ellen (Weist) said. “When I first decided to go into nursing, I thought that nurses only worked in hospital or doctors office settings, but meeting Ellen Minerd and talking with her really opened my eyes to the various ways someone can use their degree. I enjoyed working with Ellen because she was easy to talk to, supportive, and we had a lot in common (other than just our names)! Through this project, I was inspired to look beyond working in a hospital setting and explore different ways I could use my nursing degree once I graduate from college.” Ellen (Minerd), no doubt, will continue to be a generous resource for current, future, and past Magnificat students. Her mission for helping others has never ceased, and she has been an exemplary role model for learning, leading, and serving others in the Magnificat community and beyond.
Alyssa Herman ’11 + Giana Dealexandro ’21:
Character Designer
Alyssa Herman ’11 is a concept artist who works as a character designer for the popular video game, Spellbreak. Alyssa’s passion for art started at a young age, and she was able to explore and deepen this love during her time as a student at Magnificat. She took a variety of art classes through the years, and especially loved courses under the instruction of former Magnificat art teacher, Ms. Zoe Murphy. Alyssa recalls learning the foundations of art during her AP Art History course and trying to take an art elective whenever her schedule allowed. It was no surprise that Alyssa continued to study art in college, specifically video game development, at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Today, Alyssa is back home in Cleveland, Ohio, living out her dream as a professional artist. “[Magnificat] had such a huge impact on my life and career that I was eager to talk to and work with current students, to help share information on how to pursue a similar career,” says Alyssa. She recently reached out to Visual Arts Teacher and Department Chair Mrs. Alecia Janosik about opportunities to talk to students about entertainment art. Alyssa is especially passionate about talking to young women about entertainment art/games/animation because it is a predominantly male industry. She was one out of only two women in her program at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. She’s excited that more and more women are pursuing a career in this industry today, and she hopes to encourage more Magnificat students to do the same. There are endless opportunities for women to have an impact in animation art and to be successful. Mrs. Janosik connected Alyssa with Giana Dealexandro ’21 who was curious to learn about the day-to-day life of an artist in games/animation, and the career trajectory that led Alyssa to where she is now. Alyssa was thrilled to work with Giana and share her passion and resources through her Genesis project. Giana continues to keep in touch with Alyssa, and she plans to continue studying animation/entertainment art in college. Alyssa hopes to work with more Magnificat students in the future; she truly enjoyed the experience as a Genesis mentor because she fondly remembers her own Genesis experience at American Greetings, which had a significant impact on her career. Alyssa says, “My personal Genesis experience helped to cement the fact that I wanted to pursue art full time.” Alyssa is honored to be able to give back to Magnificat in any way, and has come full circle as a young alumna Genesis mentor.
In cases like that of Alyssa and Giana, the Genesis experience is one that shows students their dream careers are possible and illuminates a path toward them that they might not have seen before. "Pursue something that you love to do. Find what you're interested in, practice to make perfect, and dream big,” Giana said. “Don't do something because you feel like you should. Do what you want to do because you find joy in doing it."
Original artwork by Giana Dealxandro '21
Holly West Victor ’91 + Grace Tarler ’21:
Sales
Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Holly West Victor ’91 was determined to not let it get the best of Grace Tarler’s ’21 Genesis experience. Given the limitations that quarantine placed on this year’s Genesis program, Grace needed to find a creative way to gain real-life experience. Fortunately, Holly—a Magnificat alumna and parent of Grace's classmate Ava—is a Sales Manager for Momentive Technologies. Grace, who is interested in business and analystics, was eager to shadow and work with Holly. Holly said, “I am so happy that the Genesis Program is still a part of the Magnificat curriculum. It is also great to see the renewal of the program into a four-year high school experience. It really is a very special opportunity to be able to explore a career path so early on.” Holly benefited from her own personal Genesis experience when she had the opportunity to work in the Electrophysiology Lab at the Cleveland Clinic shadowing nurses and doctors as they performed various procedures and conducted lab analytics. Holly was honored to be able to be a part of the Genesis Program now as a mentor, in addition to watching her own daughter participate in Genesis. Holly and Grace made the most out of the time and resources they had to make a “virtual” Genesis project meaningful. Grace was able to sit in on weekly sales meetings via video conferencing so she could get a sense of how business meetings run, and she was able to take a virtual tour of Momentive Technologies' warehouse in San Jose, California. Grace also had the opportunity to be trained on various Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing (SAP) processes, and helped perform an accounts receivables analysis. Holly connected Grace with several women leaders within the company, whom she was able to ask questions to learn about their career paths through virtual one-on-one sessions. To complete her project, Grace presented on her projects to key leaders at Momentive. "Working with a Magnificat alumna for my Genesis project allowed me to relate to them on a deeper level,” Grace said. “The community that is established within Magnificat—both among current and former students and faculty—shined through. Not only did Mrs. Victor provide me with the opportunity to learn more about business, [she also showed me] how Magnificat and even her Genesis project impacted her life beyond Magnificat." Although this year looked different than most, and typical Genesis experiences weren’t possible, Grace and Holly took full advantage of all of the virtual opportunities. Grace takes away real, modern, hands-on corporate experience, while Holly walks away feeling proud of everything Grace learned and accomplished. Holly hopes to connect with future students, and looks forward to continuing to support the Genesis Program.
“Not only did Mrs. Victor provide me with the opportunity to learn more about business, [she also showed me] how Magnificat and even her Genesis project affected her life beyond Magnificat,” Grace Tarler ’21 said.
Colleen Hutchinson ’13 + Maura Bodman ’21:
Pharmacy
Young alumna Colleen Hutchinson ’13 could not have been more excited to be contacted by current Magnificat students with interest in exploring a career in pharmacy. Eager to meet current students and hear about the revamped Genesis Program, Colleen set up a lunch to gauge the students’ interests and ideas for their projects. Colleen, a second-year cardiology pharmacy resident at the Cleveland Clinic, fondly remembers her own Genesis experience. Even as a student at Magnificat, Colleen knew she wanted to be a pharmacist and that she wanted to do her Genesis project with her grandfather’s pharmacist long before she was a senior. After two weeks of shadowing her grandfather’s pharmacist, she officially decided she wanted to study cardiology pharmacy, specifically. She’s currently seeing her dream through, graduating with her Doctor of Pharmacy from Butler University in 2019 and now completing her residency. She has accepted a full-time position starting this fall. COVID restrictions prohibited most students from physically shadowing their mentors this year, including Maura Bodman ’21, who knew she wouldn’t be able to visit the Cleveland Clinic with Colleen. The hospital restrictions were disappointing for both, but Colleen was determined to make Maura’s Genesis experience as meaningful as her own. She had to get creative. Colleen shared her insight and experience with Maura to provide a snapshot of what being a cardiology pharmacist is really like. They discussed articles and research about the evolution of pharmacy, from health retail to patient-oriented clinical pharmacy. After completing her Genesis experience, Maura too plans to pursue her dream of studying clinical pharmacy at Ohio Northern University’s six-year Doctor of Pharmacy program. While it wasn’t the full experience Colleen and Maura had hoped for, one thing is for sure…the Genesis Program certainly helps students get a sense of a future career they could envision for themselves. Fortunately for both of them, their Genesis experiences solidified their decisions to study pharmacy. Colleen says, “My positive Genesis experience has stayed with me all these years. I hope to continue to work with future Genesis students. Anything I can do to support Magnificat!”
