Senior Spotlight – Honors Blog

A Network Like No Other: Honors Professional Development

Author: Isaiah Chu, Senior

When it comes to a professional network, you won’t find one better than the one forged through the Fordham Rose Hill Honors Program. As a senior in the Honors Program and the head of the Professional Development Committee, I’ve had the chance to both plan and participate in an incredible array of professionally-related activities. From resume and cover letter workshops to entire alumni panels, my career ambitions have been assisted in an infinite number of ways by these programs.

One annual professional development program that has been incredibly helpful is the Honors Alumni Network. After opting in, current students are matched with an Honors alumnus in their desired field. In my sophomore year, I was matched with Mr. Tom Pecoraro, an attorney and the co-founder of his own HR consulting firm, Excelerator Consulting. As my mentor, he provided a constant stream of advice to help me discover my interests and next steps professionally. He was especially helpful in networking; he introduced me to several attorneys from all walks of life who helped me understand the full breadth of the legal profession. It’s been two and a half years since we met through the Honors Alumni Network and he still provides helpful advice despite his busy schedule.

In fact, last week Mr. Pecoraro was the guest speaker at a professional development event for the entire Honors community. He was invited to share his experience, both in Honors and professionally. Among the great advice he gave, two points stood out to me.

Honors alumnus Tom Pecoraro speaks to current students via Zoom about his experiences in the Honors Program and the professional world.

First, in the spirit of the Jesuit tradition, make sure to always self-reflect. Whether it’s every day, every week, or even once a month, take some time to think about where you are, what your interests are, and where you want to be. One of the great strengths of the Honors Program is that you can explore many disciplines while also building up analytical skills that will allow you to succeed in a variety of fields. In reflecting on where you want to be, make sure you create a plan. Your goals can be as simple as meeting a new person, joining a club, or just watching an interesting movie about your field, but a constant self-evaluation and goal-setting cycle is essential.

The second important piece of advice was to do what you like. On the surface, this sounds simple, but many students get stuck in the mindset of needing to do what “looks good” rather than what they enjoy. This isn’t to say that you should avoid opportunities, but you should use every opportunity as a learning experience that furthers your understanding of your interests. If you learn from a volunteer position or internship that you have no interest in your intended profession, then maybe it’s time to pick something new! For me, my interests have meandered from engineering, politics and law to economics, math, and finance. I was only able to decide where I wanted to be by trying every opportunity, reflecting on my experiences, and slowly pivoting towards what my true interests were. After all, finding a career that truly suits your interests is one of your most important jobs as an undergraduate.

With everything I’ve learned so far through the Honors’ professional development programs, I can’t wait for future events. With two more upcoming alumni speaker events, as well as a networking session that I am helping to lead, I hope I can continue connecting with amazing alumni and fellow students in my last semester as a student in the Honors Program.

An Impact Research Partnership to Better Serve East Harlem

An LSA client family attends an outdoor partner event.

Author: Caroline Albacete, senior

The Little Sisters of the Assumption have been serving East Harlem since they arrived from Paris in 1891. Their current operation, the LSA Family Health Service, has been in operation since 1958. I knew very little about LSA until the fall of 2020, but the more I learn about their work, the more I marvel at their impact.

The Honors Program’s own Dr. Brenna Moore has been involved with LSA for a number of years. She brought the organization to Fordham’s attention in 2020, and has been leading a team of Fordham professors and students to research the organization and quantify its impact. The team is working to find out which of the resources and services LSA clients have found most useful over the years. Throughout the fall semester, Fordham professors and students collaborated to conduct interviews with LSA staff and clients, as well as conduct archival research. The project will culminate in a journal article that can help secure more funding for LSA and show concrete evidence of the ways in which the organization has helped the community.

Caroline Albacete, Class of 2021

I first met Dr. Moore during the fall of my junior year for an Honors’ course, Religion in the Modern World. She invited me to join the team in the fall of 2020. She knew I spoke Spanish and could do translation work, which would prove useful during the interview period because the majority of LSA’s clients are immigrants from Central and South America. The interviews we conducted ended up being almost entirely in Spanish, which we then translated into English for the researchers who did not speak Spanish. It was not always an easy process—mostly due to technological difficulties; we conducted the interviews over Zoom because we could not do them in person during the pandemic—but it was interesting to begin to spot patterns about which of LSA’s services clients appreciated the most.

LSA offers a whole host of services. Many of the women I spoke with or whose interviews I translated particularly appreciated the English courses LSA offered. Some of the mothers enjoyed the socialization groups and after school activities their children could participate in. Even more appreciated the help the LSA staff gave in navigating the NYC school system. LSA, I realized, has done a lot for the East Harlem community.

I’d previously done some volunteer work in the Bronx, but working with Dr. Moore to research LSA has reminded me how vital nonprofit organizations are for creating community. I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to help quantify LSA’s impact so that the organization can receive the recognition it deserves and continue its work in the future.

LSA parents and children take part in LSA’s Parenting and Child Development Program.

Senior Spotlight: Amelia

Author: Gigi Speer, junior

The Senior Spotlight Series is an opportunity for Rose Hill Honors students to interview their peers in the Program and share the conversations with the broader community.

For this article, junior Gigi Speer interviewed Amelia Antzoulatos, a senior Honors student majoring in Theology and Economics and minoring in Comparative Literature.

G: Do you have any passions that still exist today that were founded in your childhood?

A: Passion is a strong word, but I guess Greek music most closely fits here. I took a class with Professor Mohamed Alsiadi, another incredible Fordham professor, director of the Arab Studies minor, and world-renown oud player, who once said that listening to traditional Arab music “rips your chest open and makes you want to fly.” It’s not a violent sentiment so much as a deeply spiritual one, wherein you’re moved so profoundly you don’t know if you should jump out of your chair and dance or just let that ineffable joy or pain or nostalgia swell up from your chest and water your eyes. I can’t think of a better way to describe how I feel when I listen to Greek music.

It might have been the hours spent writing Honors essays that got me exploring new playlists & following different musical leads while I (should’ve) worked, but I’ve got to thank Professor Walsh for also allowing me the intellectual space in our sophomore Honors Contemporary Literature class to research 19th and 20th century Greek urban music. Last year, too, I finally bought myself a bouzouki, a traditional Greek instrument, and it was Prof. Alsiadi who actually helped me find an instructor and prepped me & my instrument before my first lesson.

G: Who were the Honors professors that made the biggest impact on you?

A: Wow, so many I’m not even sure I can list them all, but here are just a few.

Dr. Fiano, who introduced me honestly to the world of academia and the possibility of doing scholarship & “pursuing knowledge” in the long-term. And wow, constructing a syllabus really is an art.

Prof. Davis, my advisor, who inspired a wild excitement in theological texts and is probably the reason why I’m a Theology major.

Prof. Callaway, for making me feel, for the first time here, like we were partners in scholarship.

Prof. Burnett & Prof. Gribetz, for being the truest examples of compassionate, innovative, and attentive scholars and educators I’ve ever met. Also so brilliant. How they teach is just as important as what they teach.

G: What will you miss most about Honors?

A: It really is a community in the end. And, as with any community, my relationship with it evolved over the course of my time at Fordham; I stuck close to it, grew disillusioned then grew nostalgic, reflected upon it, but, ultimately, always knew I could return to it whenever I wanted, even if only to pop in for some warm seltzer and free pizza. For all its exclusivity, Honors can be whatever we want it to be, and I’ll miss its flexibility (except when it comes to fulfilling the core) and the communal spaces it offers students and professors to discuss and react and adapt and act together for those things most meaningful to us.

G: What has been your best internship or volunteer experience while at Fordham?

A: My internship experiences have been somewhat limited, but during my sophomore year, I very, very briefly volunteered with a Hellenic-American radio/television station called Aktina FM. The previous summer, a friend of mine had invited me to a Greek/Cypriot event at which the station’s founder, Elena Maroulleti, was a speaker; I ended up approaching her after the event about the possibility of working with her and she obliged! The commute was a little unsustainable for me (3 hrs each way to Astoria), but I really enjoyed learning from Elena’s experiences (she was a Cypriot refugee to the US in the 1970s who built her station on her own, becoming one of the first major advocates for Greece & Cyprus in this country, but who doesn’t hesitate to criticize the male-dominated leadership of the Greek-American community). At one point, I helped her cover an event attended by the Prime Minister of Cyprus and interview a member of his cabinet.

G: What have you enjoyed on-campus?

A: Late night walks around campus, exploring new spots to hang with friends. There’s nothing better than texting someone at 1am on a Thursday and taking a break to talk with them outside in the fresh air.

G: Favorite off-campus spot?

A: Pick a cafe and Isabel Velarde and I have been there for a mid-afternoon existential interlude. Prince. Luna. DeLillo’s. Dealy Starbucks in a pinch.

G: Any favorite authors?

A: Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Penn Warren, Sally Rooney. Also Abraham Heschel; every time I read a line I’ve gotta put the book down and find someone to share it with. A few books I’ve read at Fordham that I can’t stop thinking about are I & Thou by Martin Buber; Mr. Mani by A.B. Yehoshua; and Sisters in the Wilderness by Delores S. Williams. One book that I never actually read but can’t stop thinking about: Memoirs of Hadrian.

G: Any last things to add?

A: It’s been wonderful meeting some of the Honors underclassmen. They’re seriously impressive, and I’m really excited to see how else they’ll transform Honors and Fordham.

Senior Spotlight: Megan Schaffner

Author: Gigi Speer, sophomore

The Senior Spotlight Series is an opportunity for Rose Hill Honors students to interview their peers in the Program and share the conversations with the broader community.

For this article, sophomore Gigi Speer interviewed Megan Schaffner, a senior Honors student majoring in English with minors in Marketing and Philosophy.

G: What made you choose your disciplines of study?

M: I’ve always loved books, so an English major felt like a natural choice to me. My marketing minor came a little later when I got interested in how companies communicate with their audiences and how that can affect the publishing industry. And with four philosophy courses in the old Honors curriculum, you only need one more class for a minor. So, like many Honors students, I chose to take a fifth philosophy class in order to do so. It’s been really interesting! I definitely wouldn’t have done a philosophy minor if I wasn’t so close to it, but I’m happy I did.

G: Tell me a little about your internship!

M: I work at Beaufort Books, which is a small independent publisher all the way downtown [Manhattan]. I help the editors there with book schedules, manuscript edits, and basically whatever else they need!

G: What is the commute like?

M: It’s not too bad. I take a ram van for an hour and then a twenty minute subway. I sleep in the van which helps and the intern hours are 10-5 which is super nice.

G: Is this something you would like to do after you graduate?

M: Definitely! I want to go into publishing, hopefully doing editorial stuff, so this is a good way to get a feel for the industry.

G: Is this your first time working for a publisher?

M: It is! Over the summer, I worked for a literary agent, which was great but it dealt a lot more with the business work like finalizing book deals. I really want to work with the actual text of books, so I’m hoping I can do that with this internship.

G: So you’ve been writing Senior Spotlights for the past two years as part of your role on the Student Activities Council. Has writing these articles been helpful in directing your interest?

M: Yes, I think working with the Web Presence committee of SAC has helped me a lot in general. I’ve gotten to think about the different forms of social media marketing, which is a little bit of what I’ve been doing at my internship now. So the web presence and marketing minor has been really helpful and have given me the chance to do some trial and error, figure out what I like, and figure out what works.

G: Do you have a favorite Honors memory teacher or book?

M: Yes! I love remembering the first two years of the Honors curriculum, all struggling together. I think back to freshman year, with all of us huddled in Alpha House cramming for Dr. Miller’s exams. My one friend, who wasn’t in Honors, would come with me and be my unofficial philosophy tutor. Even now, although I feel old, I like doing extra-curricular activities with the whole Program. The book exchange last year was so sweet—people put in such an effort to figure out what their person would like to read. I got Educated, which I was really excited to read, and I was given a hardcover edition which I thought was so nice. Little things like that remind me that people are enjoying [Honors], that things are continuing, and that there will be a lot of activities still going on after I leave. I feel like a proud mom!

G: Favorite Honors professor?

M: I really love Dr. Keller. I had her for Early Modern Lit, which is the time period I really like. Reading Shakespeare with her was the best thing ever because she really pushed us to keep thinking. She wanted to know more than just the things that stood out to you; she wanted us to figure out why they did and how they fit into the larger scale of what we were learning. Having that practice in my head moving forward to other English classes has been helpful, since it has rewired my brain to think more.

Senior Spotlight: Kristen Cain

Author: Gigi Speer, sophomore

The Senior Spotlight Series is an opportunity for Rose Hill Honors students to interview their peers in the Program and share the conversations with the broader community.

For this article, sophomore Gigi Speer interviewed Kristen Cain, a senior International Studies major with a concentration in the Middle East and North Africa.

G: Where are you from?

K: The Poughkeepsie area [of New York].

G: So I know that you were just abroad. Do you plan on travelling more?

K: I traveled abroad last spring in Morocco, which was perfect since I study both French and Arabic. It was my first time travelling out of the country. I got lots of practice interning at a refugee organization and teaching English classes, which was really cool. I just found out last week that I got accepted into the Peace Corps, so I’ll be in Morocco for another two years working in youth development, teaching English classes, running after school programs, summer camps, and depending on the area, running some female empowerment programs as well.

G: Was there anything from Honors that came to mind when you were in Morocco?

K: Having a small community of thirty people in the program and classes that all relate like our interdisciplinary schedule reminded me of Honors. The other students were mostly American and there was one other Fordham student, but some were from China and Germany as well.

G: Is there anything that you brought back that you really loved from Morocco?

K: I got really into their mint tea. Not just the tea itself, but the culture. Sitting and having tea with people is such a good way to get to know them. I’ve definitely been trying more Mediterranean stuff like couscous. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do before I went, and once I was there I got really interested in refugees, so I decided to write my thesis on it along with youth development and education. Most of the refugees are from West Africa and Sub Saharan Africa, and the government wasn’t really receptive to them; most of them were homeless or living in crowded apartments, whis is obviously not a great environment.

G: Are you still interested in refugee resettlement?

K: I’m interning at the International Rescue Committee, working in refugee resettlement, working with refugees coming into the U.S. They have offices throughout the country, and we help them their first 90 days, enrolling in food stamps, SNAP benefits, and trying to find apartments in New York. It’s not a great program, but its better than what they have in Morocco. I get to use my language skills, which is cool since I haven’t been able to practice since being in Morocco.

G: What will you miss about Honors?

K: I definitely like the community, especially freshman and sophomore year when we all spent so much time together. Every seminar class was people you knew, so you felt more comfortable talking to people.

G: Has there been any teacher that has had a big impact on you?

K: There’s been a lot of really good professors. From freshman year, definitely Professor McGowan. I feel like everyone says their Ancient Literature professor is the best, but he can truly make any topic interesting.

G: Do you have a favorite memory from Honors?

K: I loved going to the Classics Halloween party with my class freshmen year; I dressed up as Athena. At the same party, Devin D’Agostino came in a blow up T-Rex costume—which he’s worn multiple times—and put a Greek robe over it to be Oedipus Rex.

Senior Spotlight: Onjona Hossain

Author: Gigi Speer, sophomore

The Senior Spotlight Series is an opportunity for Rose Hill Honors students to interview their peers in the Program and share the conversations with the broader community.

For this article, Gigi Speer, a current sophomore in the Program, interviewed graduating senior, Onjona Hossain. Onjona is a biology and philosophy double major in the Honors Program. She is currently preparing for medical school and has a plethora of different achievements. I interviewed her to learn more about these accomplishments, in addition to the many other things she’s done with her time here at Fordham.

Gigi: What has been your favorite Honors memory?

Onjona: My favorite Honors memory is the freshman Scavenger Hunt in Central Park. As a native New Yorker, I had no idea about all the different sights to see at Central Park and so it was nice to finally get to explore my city. It was also a great opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and spend the day with other Honors students who I had never spoken to before. It was also fun because I love competition and this event brought out all of our competitiveness.

Gigi: What has been your best internship or volunteer experience while at Fordham?

Onjona: Through International Samaritan, a non-profit, Jesuit organization, I volunteered as an EMT in Guatemala on a medical mission the summer after my freshmen year. As a volunteer, I helped organize a makeshift clinic including a triaging station, physician consult area, pharmacy, and distribution center. I also spent time as a medical scribe to Guatemalan and American physicians to improve efficiency. This allowed me to learn from two unique cultural and practical approaches to medicine. My time in Guatemala reignited my passion to provide medical care to those underserved and taught me that basic treatments can make huge impacts on others’ wellbeing and health. I was so inspired my trip, I began a subchapter of International Samaritan at Fordham for other students to participate in.

I also really enjoyed my Patient Advocacy Volunteer in Emergency Research Services (PAVERS) internship. As a patient advocate for the Emergency Department at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, I aided physicians and nurses in patient transport and care, observed initial assessment of patients in the ER and interacted with patients as they awaited treatment. When I wasn’t making beds, distributing blankets and food, I found myself engaging in conversations with patients about not only their complaints and illnesses but also their personal lives and backgrounds, which not surprisingly often influenced the reasons for which they were seeking care.

Gigi: What have you enjoyed getting involved in on-campus at Fordham?

For the second straight year, I am the Editor-in-Chief of the Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal (FURJ). After being a Peer Review Staff member and Peer Review Editor, I wanted to become Editor-in-Chief to channel my creativity and take initiative in sharing research and knowledge. In 2018, I became the first junior to become Editor-in-Chief of FURJ and, under my leadership, this year FURJ published two volumes in print for the first time, a testament to its growing demand.

I am also the President of the Minority Association for Pre-Medical Students (MAPS). MAPS increases minority matriculation into professional health-related programs. Through my leadership role in MAPS, I solidified my commitment to encouraging diversity in the health professions. I always admired diversity of health professionals, but now I actively promote and increase it.

Gigi: How have you grown as a person throughout your time in the Honors Program?

Onjona: Majoring in biology was an easy choice, but it was not until my second semester in the Honors Program that I chose to add a major in philosophy. Ancient Philosophy was my most difficult course, but I felt intellectually challenged, and I knew discomfort meant that I was learning. I chose philosophy to further enrich my perspective on the world and to question my pre-existing ideas. In addition, being part of the Honors Program allowed me to explore courses in the humanities as they relate to all topics, even medicine. Reading authors like James Baldwin helped me recognize my passion for literature. I make the most of my Jesuit education at Fordham through leadership, volunteer work, discourse, and giving back. At Fordham, I reaffirmed my passion for medicine and am becoming the best version of myself. The Jesuits emphasize education and commitment to giving back to the underserved. I carry out this mission as I serve my community as an EMT on campus, a peer mentor for freshmen at the pre-health symposium, and as an educator at Khan’s Tutorial. I hope to practice patient-centered care with the mission of relieving human suffering which is in line with the Jesuit tradition of Cura Personalis and caring for the whole person. In my career as a physician, I will continue to be a woman for others and cultivate the Jesuit values and traditions of service through discovery, wisdom and education. At Fordham, I learned the importance of self-reflection and caring for the whole individual, qualities I will continue to cultivate as a practicing physician.

Gigi: Which Honors professor made the biggest impact on you?

Onjona: Professor Mary Callaway made a great impact on me because she changed the way I viewed my entire college education and experience. She taught me that college doesn’t just give us the tools to engage in civil discourse and live a successful life, but this is exactly what life is all about, engaging in civil discourse with others whether it be in an interdisciplinary seminar or a casual conversation with a peer. It changed my perspective on my education. College was not merely a stepping stone, but an end in its own right.

Gigi: What will you miss most about Honors?

Onjona: I will miss Alpha House the most. As a commuter, I really appreciated having 24/7 access to Alpha. I remember on overnight FUEMS shifts, I would camp out in Alpha House. It’s always nice to intermingle with other Honors kids there as well.

Gigi: Is there anyone you would like to shoutout?

Onjona: I would like to give a shoutout to Honors Program Director Dr. Eve Keller for seeing potential in me from even before we officially met.

Senior Spotlight: Rosie McCormack

Author: Gigi Speer, sophomore

The Senior Spotlight Series is an opportunity for Rose Hill Honors students to interview their peers in the Program and share the conversations with the broader community.

For this article, Gigi Speer, a current sophomore in the Program, interviewed graduating senior, Rosemarie (“Rosie”) McCormack. Rosie is an International Political Economy (IPE) major with a double minor in English and Peace and Social Justice. Rose is a senior in the Honors Program and is currently a Strategic Planning & Policy intern at the New York County District Attorney’s Office. She was interviewed by Gigi Speer (Honors sophomore) for this post.

Gigi: What has been your favorite Honors memory?

Rosie: I was in Gabelli [Business School] during my first year, so I joined Honors as a sophomore. My favorite memory is from Early Modern History when Professor Myers jumped up on the table and sang every single verse of Ghost Riders in the Sky by Johnny Cash. Devin D’Agostino, dressed in an inflatable T-Rex costume, jumped up and joined him for the last chorus (it was Halloween).

A less silly favorite memory is when Dustin Partridge took the Honors Science I students to the green roof of the Javits Center – it was a cool thing to see.

Gigi: Which Honors professor has made the most impact on you?

Rosie: Susan Greenfield is probably my favorite professor at Fordham. I had her for Early Modern Literature, and I loved her teaching style. She reminds me a lot of my favorite English teacher from high school, and she’s one of the few teachers I’ve had who I felt really pushed my writing to be better. I took her Homelessness service-learning class last spring, and it was my favorite class in the past 4 years (take it!). She’s on sabbatical this year, and I’m so excited to be working as her research assistant while she’s working on other projects.

Gigi: What has been your best internship or volunteer experience while at Fordham?

Rosie: My favorite internship is the one I have right now, as a Strategic Planning & Policy intern at the New York County District Attorney’s Office. A few years ago, New York County received criminal forfeiture funds from some foreign banks on Wall Street, and DA Vance decided to use the funds to start the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII), which increases community and alternative-to-incarceration programs in New York to help keep people out of the criminal system. The SPP office runs that initiative. I spend a lot of time researching the progress of current programs (like the progress states have made on testing their rape kit backlogs) and writing literature reviews to help develop future programs (like a program to support sex-trafficked NYC youth). It’s really cool to work for the government but be a part of trying to reform the system, rather than just being a cog in the machine of prosecution.

I’m involved in a lot of areas on & off-campus! My main activities at Fordham include serving as Vice President of the Humanitarian Student Union and co-founding and leading the Our Story program, which is a student storytelling event. I also do work-study in Fr. McShane’s office and have been an Urban Plunge Leader throughout my time at Fordham.

Gigi: Do you have any favorite authors?

Rosie: Some of my favorite authors are Barbara Kingsolver and Anne Lamott! I also really like Abraham Verghese, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, John Boyne, although I admit I’ve only read one of each of their books…

Gigi: Anything you still want to try/change in the Honors Program, Fordham, or New York City in general?

Rosie: I wish I could have been a part of the new, justice-based Honors curriculum! Learning more about social justice has been a huge part of my Fordham experience, and I think it’s so cool that Honors has taken up that banner in a substantial way. I hope Fordham will always educate students to think critically about systems of oppression and work as an institution to better the New York City community.

Gigi: What will you miss most about Honors?

Rosie: I will miss being around other students who are motivated. In some non-Honors classes, I feel like there are only one or two students who you could count on to be present and participate, and in Honors almost everyone had something they wanted to contribute.

An Engineer’s Praise of A Liberal Arts Education

Author: Daniel Joseph, senior

With the help of the Honors Program Ambassadorial Grant, I was lucky enough to attend the national conference of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers last October, along with 8,000 other undergraduates from around the country. While I was there, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend talks and workshops by industry professionals and leaders, network directly with hiring managers and engineers, and meet other incredibly bright students. To cap it off, the career fair featured almost 300 companies from around the country seeking to snap up young and developing talent for both internships and new-graduate positions.

To be honest, I was a bit intimidated. The students I talked to were aiming at aeronautics internships at Boeing and SpaceX, or software engineering positions at Google and Microsoft. I began to think that knowing I’d want to pursue Computer Science, choosing a liberal arts school like Fordham might have been a mistake.

However, my anxieties were unfounded. In an impromptu interview with a hiring manager, it was my time and experience in the Honors Program that differentiated me from the thousands of other qualified candidates at the conference. My interviewer had also attended a university with a Great Books program (they began with The Iliad, too) and we mostly talked about everything other than software engineering. Even Larry Stempel’s music history class came in handy — as he always promised us it would. She expressed that she was thrilled to have found a candidate that both knew what they were talking about technically, but could also hold a conversation and was obviously excited about continual learning and approaching situations from a variety of perspectives. I cannot help but credit the Honors Program for honing those latter aspects.

I am incredibly grateful to the Honors Program both for helping me to get to the conference all the way across the country, and for helping mold me into a person that could stand out from the crowd.

Senior Spotlight: Stephen

Author: Megan Schaffner, junior

The Student Spotlight Series is an opportunity for Rose Hill Honors students to interview their peers in the Program and share the conversations with the broader community.

For this article, Megan Schaffner, a current junior in the Program, interviewed graduating senior, Stephen Lebak. Stephen is majoring in Mathematics and minoring in Computer Science. He has been a dedicated member of the Fordham Pep Band since his freshman year and will begin an exciting job with Boeing after graduation this May. Within the Honors community, Stephen has become well-known and loved for his incredible baking.

Megan: Was there something that drew you to your major and minor?

Stephen: I did come in as a math major, but just as a math major. I had little to no interest in computer science [originally.] When Fordham made my first semester schedule, they put me in an introductory Computer Science course… I had a really good professor and she got me interested in the material. I felt like I understood it and enjoyed it, so I kept taking classes and tacked on the minor. I nearly switched to the major, but a lot of what makes computers run is based on linear algebra and math in the first place, so it seemed more logical for me to follow the math major.

Megan: I hear you will be working with Boeing after graduation. I am curious to hear more about that.

Stephen: [My interest in them] is something that’s come up over the past couple of years. The team I’ll be working on specifically programs flight simulations, which are then used to train air-force pilots. A lot of jobs in the contracting/defense industry are perhaps not as ethical as one might hope. So, especially after coming out of a Jesuit school [where there is an emphasis placed on ethics and justice], I was lucky to find [a job aligned with those values].

Megan: And where will you be?

Stephen: The job is in St. Louis.

Megan: Are you from around here?

Stephen: Yes, I’m originally from Queens; I went to high school in New York and lived with my grandparents then. Before that, I was in Boston, where my parents still are.

Megan: So is the move to St. Louis a daunting task for you or is it not too big of a deal?

Stephen: It depends on the day. I will certainly say that sometimes it’s really exciting—I get to go to a new city, start from scratch. On other days, I’ll ask [myself], “What am I getting myself into?” It basically is a full overhaul. I do know one person there, but that’s really it, so it will be completely new. It’s exciting though; it should be fun.

Megan: I’ve also been told that you’re quite the popular baker, so I was wondering if you’d want to talk a bit about that?

Stephen: [laughs] Who told you that? Okay, so this goes back to my late high school days. Every now and then I would bake cookies, except I lived with my grandparents and my grandfather immediately would go on a diet and my grandmother wouldn’t eat them either! And then I’d have all of these cookies. So I would bring them to school, feed my lunch table, all that kind of stuff. That carried over to Fordham, [especially] last year and this year, since I live in an apartment where I have my own kitchen. It’s the same logic: I’ll make a batch of cookies and I can’t eat all of them. So I go around, distribute them to friends, many of whom I have met through Honors, one way or another. It’s also a great way to see people and catch up, talk—and then they get a cookie out of that.

Megan: Do you have a signature baked item?

Stephen: Yes, chocolate chip cookies are my signature. Not particularly fancy, but a classic.

Megan: And well-loved by all! So, in terms of Honors, do you have either a favorite thing about the program, or a favorite memory, looking back now that you’re just about done?

Stephen: There’s definitely a few! I would say the fact that you’ve got 13 kids per class, really. The fact that you can have really close discussions in basically every single class because of that [is really special]. Also, the nature of the class brings everyone together really fast. By the end of the first year, my [cohort] was very tight-knit.

Megan: Yeah, that’s really great! Do you have a favorite Honors professor?

Stephen: I have different ones for different reasons. First semester, I absolutely loved Dr. Harry Nasuti. He’s wonderful. He would tell us about back in the day when he was the director [of the Honors Program]. He told our class the first day, “These are going to be your best friends” and I told him two years later, “Dr. Nasuti, you were 100% right.”

All [of the Honors professors] have been good—we’re talking about the best of the best of the best. I had Professor Nick Paul for Medieval History and no matter what the subject was, he was able to make it fascinating. The way he talked about everything would make it seem so interesting and you would get just as invested as he was in the subject

Megan: What’s one thing you’ll miss most about Fordham?

Stephen: I have thought about that one a little bit because Pep Band season just wrapped up. The [women’s basketball team] won the A10, so we went to the NCAA tournament in Syracuse and that was basically my last game. Other than Honors, Pep Band was a really good group for me; I met a lot of my close friends there. I’ll also miss the Honors Program. I’ll miss having a community around me of people of that caliber of intelligence and being able to hold discussions with them about virtually anything—that’s going to be something that I don’t think I’ll be able to find outside of Fordham or really anywhere. So I’ll certainly miss that.

In terms of what I’m excited about, I’m moving out to St. Louis and I’m starting from scratch. I’m excited to start over and build up a great group around me, or try to! I think it’s something that certainly daunting as a task, but it’s one of the most rewarding things. I’ve done it twice now—once in high school and once at Fordham—and it really is just so rewarding. And I think Fordham prepares you well to do that by teaching you to care for the whole person, teaching you how to think and connect, and giving you the knowledge base to be able to connect with other people. It all prepares you well, and I think it’s prepared me well to do that [in St. Louis].

Honors Summer Internship Fellow: Andrew

**This is the third post in a series of four posts written by the Summer 2018 Honors Internship Fellows. The students received a stipend that enabled them to work at non-profit organizations for the common good.**

Author: Andrew Seger, senior

I am grateful to have received the Honors Program Summer Fellowship, which afforded me the opportunity to learn from and work alongside some very hardworking journalists writing in the field of global affairs news and analysis at the Council on Foreign Relations. In this very consequential time for U.S. politics, our country’s role as a leader on the world stage is increasingly coming under question. As one of the world’s premier think-tanks, CFR is a rendezvous for scholars and diplomats who lead the charge at carefully analyzing, sometimes criticizing, and constantly learning from U.S. foreign policy actions and blunders.

As an intern with CFR’s editorial team, I worked with established journalists and writers who contributed news and analysis content to CFR’s website. As my capstone intern project, I worked throughout the summer on producing a published interview on the current state of Libyan politics with Frederic Wehrey, a senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

My internship at the Council on Foreign Relations was any political junkie’s dream summer job. As an International Political Economy major, the internship supplemented and built upon everything I’ve learned in three years of studying politics and global affairs. It was also complementary to my growing knowledge of world history and political philosophy, subjects the Honors Program first sparked my interest in years ago. Again, I am grateful to Dr. Keller and the Honors Program for affording me this opportunity to work and learn at the Council on Foreign Relations, and I look forward to building upon this experience in the future.