Gilding the Lily: Nina House ’17 Climbs

Gilding the Lily: Alumna Climbs Mountains to Pursue Passion for Botany

A passion for the environment drives Nina House ’17, and that commitment carried her through some challenging times to a life in which she is blossoming. After earning an associate’s degree, Nina transferred into SUNY Oswego with a very tough semester ahead of her, as she decided to change her major to biology shortly after enrolling. She was one of two students selected to work on a project with the U.S. Geological Survey to investigate microplastics ingestion by forage fish in Lake Ontario. “We collected fish from Lake Ontario, dissected out their stomachs, dissolved them and then checked the stomach contents for microplastic ingestion,” said the Phoenix, N.Y., native. “This project and the people I worked with during it really transformed my last two years at SUNY Oswego. I am confident that this is what set me up for the successes I have had since graduating.” During her undergraduate work at Oswego, she also traveled to Costa Rica for a summer research experience. “This trip was my first time outside of the United States (besides Canada), my first time traveling alone and the first time I attended a school-related program where I would know absolutely no one,” Nina said. “It was an amazing experience! I learned so much about sustainability and field work, and met people who I am still good friends with to this day. It really inspired my desire to travel and live in new places.” Today, Nina regularly packs up some gear and heads out to the southern Sierra Nevada mountainside for days at a time. She is doing a floristic inventory—meticulously documenting all of the plants of the Manter and Salmon Creek watersheds in California. It’s part of her research for her master’s in botany at California Botanic Garden, part of Claremont Graduate University. She collects samples of plant species, presses them flat and brings them to an herbarium, where she identifies and deposits them for future reference and study. “Documenting plant species diversity is of critical importance to establish a baseline that can guide management, inform conservation and facilitate our understanding of landscape scale change that results from a changing climate and other direct human impacts,” she said. “If we do not know what plants are present on the landscape and how disturbances are affecting them – we can’t do anything to mitigate those impacts!” Ultimately, she hopes her work will inform public policy and science communication, although she said she wants to always be performing some field work. “We scientists can do research all day, but if we can’t get the general public interested; well, there’s just no point,” she said.

To see more of Nina’s photos and watch a slideshow of her research areas, visit magazine.oswego.edu.

Oswego Alumni Win CNY Short Film Competition Grand Prize

Three Oswego graduates—Andrew Nimetz ‘20, Derrick Benton ‘18 and Victoria Diana ‘16—were among the grand prize winners who each received $40,000 to bring their scripts to life through the CNY Short Film Competition. Andrew is pictured on the set of a previous production, Here To Collect.

time at Oswego, she was involved in Alpha Epsilon Phi, Student Association, Hillel, Chabad and Mentor Oswego. She worked as a tour guide and Telefund caller on campus. Jessica Suprise Dorans ’18 M’19 of Greenville, Wis., is currently serving in the U.S. Army. At Oswego, she was involved in Beta Alpha Psi, Accounting Society, Beta Gamma Sigma, Veterans Club and the Non-Traditional Student Organization. Cameron Guglielmo ’18 of Glen Falls, N.Y., is a sales and services manager at Staples U.S. Retail in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Cameron participated in Mentor-Scholar and Tau Sigma at Oswego. Joshua T. Jasewicz ’18 M’19 is a staff tax accountant at Dannible & McKee LLP in Syracuse, N.Y. Prior to joining Dannible & McKee, he worked as a tax intern at Burdick & Pearson, CPAs PLLC, where he assisted with income tax compliance for a wide variety of clients including individuals, corporations and partnerships. Emily Rundle ’18 of Ava, N.Y., graduated from University at Buffalo, with an M.S. in School Librarianship. She spent her summer supporting community literacy at Erwin Library in Boonville, N.Y. She was a member of Tri Beta and Sigma Delta Tau at Oswego. Corey Slifkin ’18 of Congers, N.Y., is a videographer for LCM247 in Pearl River, N.Y. At Oswego, Corey was an active member of WTOP-10 and played ultimate frisbee. Alyshia Hull ’19 of Pulaski, N.Y., is an award-winning journalist who works at Childress Ink. In addition to her own projects, Alyshia works as product developer on works-in-progress, upcoming reading initiatives, literary partnerships and expansion into e-retail. She also is a freelance writer and speaker whose goal is to involve children in reading, writing and storytelling. She has won multiple awards, including the SUNY Oswego Journalism Award for both editorial and opinion writing. Brandon Macey ’19 of Troy, N.Y., is a studio technician at WTEN-TV. He was a member of WTOP, WNYO, the Blackfriars Theatre Organization, Film Club and Lambda Pi Eta during his time at Oswego. Brandon produced his own show on WTOP and enjoyed being involved with the fitness centers on campus and the Media Summit. He is currently working on starting an animated web series.

Cherilynn Miller ’19 of Rochester, N.Y., is a customer service representative at Wegmans in Rochester. Kassadee Paulo ’19 of Oswego is an editor-in-chief at Dot Publishing—Oswego County Today. At Oswego, she was involved in The Oswegonian, Pi Delta Pi, The Odyssey Online, Phi Kappa Phi, and Great Lake Review. In addition, she was a resident assistant.

ASK Me!

Cheat Sheet for Financial Success 1. Create a budget and stick to it.

Use technologies like Acorn, Digit and Mint to help you. 2. Save 6 months of living expenses in a high yield savings account.

Anything beyond that should be invested. 3. Don’t save to save. Save to invest. 4. Diversify your revenue streams so you can make money while you sleep. Find nonpassive work (including monetizing your talents or hobbies), and passive income (real estate, royalties,stock market, investments, businesses). 5. Remember: Your biggest investment is yourself! Shared by Sheneya Wilson ’15 M’16, founder of FOLA Financial LLC, during “The Making of a Billionaire” virtual workshop for the SUNY Oswego community. folafinancial.com

Share a little of yourself with others. Become an ASK (Alumni Sharing Knowledge) volunteer today.

alumni.oswego.edu/ask

Alesha Pilon ’19 is participating in a service experience with AmeriCorps at SBP in Brooklyn, N.Y., and also works as a client service coordinator at Friends of Rockaway. Gregory West ’19 of Huntington, N.Y., is an assistant touring carpenter for NETWorks Touring LLC.

2020s

Ryan Green ’20 of Niskayuna, N.Y., is an area manager with Amazon.com Inc. in Bristol, Conn. Ryan served as the Student Association director of finance for the 2019-2020 school year at Oswego. Autumn Pollock ’20 is an admissions counselor at New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls, N.Y.