Finding Success

CLASS OF 2020 SUCCESS

in these strange times

Victoria Guglielmo, Class of 2020

Mount Saint Mary College’s Class of 2020 graduated into a world rocked by COVID-19. However, even with the complications caused by the pandemic, the new Mount graduates have found success in these strange times.

“Do things that might scare you. You never know what you’re going to end up enjoying.”

First-gen grad goes international

Victoria Guglielmo, a 2020 Mount grad, is a trailblazer: Not only was she a firstgeneration college student, but she was also one of the first students to enroll in the Mount’s Criminology program.

Thanks to her love for the Spanish language, Guglielmo quickly added a second major: Hispanic Studies. The move afforded her an opportunity to study abroad in Granada, Spain, where she would teach an English as a Second Language class.

As a senior, Guglielmo was inspired by that study abroad experience to apply for the Peace Corps. It paid off: After the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, she will serve as an English teacher in Costa Rica.

Two majors and a minor in Art would have been enough for most students, but Guglielmo’s determination didn’t end in the classroom. She was founder and president of the First in Family Network, a campus club that helps prepare other first-generation college students for the rigors of college life; she was named a member of both the Criminology (Chi Rho Iota) and Hispanic Studies (Sigma Delta Pi) honor societies; she volunteered at the Newburgh Armory teaching an English as a Second Language (ESL) class; she was a Dominican Scholar of Hope; and more.

Guglielmo credits Jenifer LeeGonyea, associate professor of Criminology, with helping her to develop her critical thinking skills, and Kate Melody Burmon, assistant professor of Criminology, for encouraging her to study abroad in Spain.

Victor Azuaje, associate professor of Spanish, “pushed me out of my comfort zones and showed me that it was possible for me to do things I never thought I could,” she added.

Guglielmo’s advice to new college students speaks to what made her years at the Mount so successful: “Try new things!” she said. “Do things that might scare you. You never know what you’re going to end up enjoying.”

Kadamani lands HR job months before graduation

While many of her classmates searched for the jobs that would launch their careers, Pascal Kadamani, a recent Mount grad, had started hers months before.

Kadamani, who studied Psychology and Business, has been a full-time human resource assistant at Tectonic Engineering Consultants, Geologists & Land Surveyors, D.P.C. in Mountainville, N.Y. since January.

She started with the company as an intern almost exactly a year earlier, in January 2019. Human resources clicked with her, and the decision to stay in the field was an easy one, she said. “I enjoy my work so much that it’s hard for me to comprehend that it is, indeed, a full-time job,” she explained.

The young grad will never forget her time at the Mount, which will always be her home away from home. “What I will miss most about the Mount is the sense of community,” she said. “It has become the thing I love most about calling myself a Knight.”

Learning through adversity: teaching during a pandemic

For teacher candidates in 2020, adaptation is the name of the game.

Sarah Quade ’20, who was on the Mount five-year Education track, served her final student teaching experience at a familiar locale: the Minisink Valley Central School District in Slate Hill, N.Y., where she had earned her high school diploma five years earlier.

Quade was student teaching US History and Government when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

“It was definitely an adjustment,” she explained. “Suddenly I went from seeing my students every day to only communicating via email. I was sad to not see them, but I was relieved that everyone was safe at home.”

Instruction continued online, forcing Quade – and the rest of the country’s teachers – to adapt quickly. While COVID-19 created educational hardships, it also provided an opportunity for some very unique on-the-job training.

“My lessons changed from daily plans to weekly plans,” Quade said. “I started recording my lessons for students to watch at home and changed the teaching timeline overall.”

The experience left some lasting impressions. For example, when planning her teaching strategies for the future, Quade will make sure that her lessons can be moved to an online format at a moment’s notice.

She credited her courses at the Mount with helping to turn her into the professional she is today. “My time here has given me priceless skills and an incredible network of support,” she said.

That support network included professors like Glenn Reynolds, associate professor of History; Frances Spielhagen, professor of Education; and David Gallagher, associate professor of Education. “Everyone in the History and Education departments have been so supportive and invaluable over the years,” she noted.

The future looks bright for Quade, who is planning on pursuing a doctorate in History before getting back to the classroom.

Combining creativity and compassion

Senior jumps right into accounting career

Just days after graduation, Matthew Connoly, a Mount Accounting major on the five-year MBA track, began working as a staff accountant at the public accounting firm Judelson, Giordano, and Siegel (JGS), CPA, PC.

The Career Center “did an excellent job of setting me up with an internship at JGS,” he said.

Helping to mold Connoly into the professional he is today, he explained, were his professors: Tracey Niemotko, professor of Accounting; Ivan Rubel, lecturer of Accounting; Neirouz Watad, instructor of Accounting; and Michael Fox, assistant professor of Business Law, MBA coordinator, and Pre-Law advisor.

Connoly is the third person in his family to have graduated from the Mount, the first two being his sisters Sarah and Cindy. Both women are currently frontline healthcare workers.

Creativity, innovation, and compassion: Micaela Croniser ’20 exhibits these traits in spades.

Croniser says that Nursing is one of her greatest passions. Like many of her fellow Mount grads, she’s been fighting COVID-19 on the frontlines of health care since March.

Another of her loves is art, including painting (traditional and spray), drawing, and graphic design.

As a Mount Nursing student, she found a way to combine these talents. When she wasn’t in class or at work at a local hospital, Croniser designed and published Everyone Goes to the Hospital from Time to Time, a 22-page coloring book for children who visit the emergency room.

The book, currently being distributed at a local hospital, was designed to bring “comfort and a feeling of familiarity” to the children who must spend time in the ER, Croniser explained.

Cybersecurity grad earns job at West Point

Ryan Bellows, a May 2020 graduate of the Mount’s Cybersecurity program, didn’t have to wait long to start working in his field: Weeks after graduating, he began a career as an information technology specialist (Security/Systems Administration) at the West Point United States Military Academy.

Bellows landed the job after completing an internship at West Point. The Mount’s Career Center and Sagar Raina, assistant professor of Information Technology, helped him obtain the internship.

Cybersecurity is more than just a career for Bellows – it’s a passion. In this field, every day is a new adventure, he explained.

“I am mostly excited about the unknown. Cybersecurity is a relatively new field of study,” Bellows said. “I have witnessed the field’s evolution over the course of my four-year college career alone. The ever-changing nature is what I believe keeps this career path interesting.”

Offered as both an IT concentration and major, the Mount’s Cybersecurity program provides the skills to identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities in software, operating systems, networks, and more.

“My favorite part of the Mount’s Cybersecurity program was the non-stop challenge of learning the many aspects of computer/network security,” Bellows explained. “Each challenge was difficult, but rewarding.”

Bellows says he’ll never forget the contributions the Mount made to his personal and professional development.

“I am going to miss everyone’s positive demeanor – and some of the best views of the Hudson River,” he noted.

Twins Eleni (left) and Stefanie Drautz graduated from Mount Saint Mary College this May.

Two of a kind: Mount twins head to same grad school

Four years ago, twins Eleni and Stefanie Drautz started their academic careers at Mount Saint Mary College. Now they’re taking on the challenges of grad school together as well.

The Drautz sisters, who both studied Human Services at the Mount, began earning master’s degrees in Social Work at SUNY Stony Brook this fall. They thanked Robin Rosenberg, a career counselor with the college’s Career Center, for helping them to polish their résumés and applications, and Psychology professors Paul Schwartz and Lawrence Force for writing them recommendation letters.

Going to the same college “was definitely a lot of fun, especially entering a new school and living away from home with a built-in best friend,” explained the Drautz twins.