Recent graduates eager for new challenges

After the May 8 commencement exercises, graduates ventured from the Winthrop campus to begin the next phase of their lives. A few seniors shared their stories:

This summer, Ashlei Stevens, a mass communication and modern languages major from Lexington, S.C., will participate in a 10-week internship at the New York Times. Stevens is thrilled with the chance to hone her writing skills and to move to the Big Apple.

“I am very excited about this opportunity, because I know it is one that only a few get a chance to experience,” said Stevens, who interned in the summers of 2002 and 2003 at the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, a New York Times Co. newspaper.

Stevens was chosen along with five others in the nation and may be offered a full-time position upon completion of the internship.

Derek Wong of Toronto, Canada, finished his college career as a member of Winthrop’s most successful men’s tennis team to date. The team hosted and won the Big South conference championship and took its first trip to the NCAA men's tennis tournament, where they faced Duke. Wong, a business administration major with a concentration in finance, played four years on the team. He will continue working at Founders Federal Credit Union while he pursues his M.B.A. in international business at Winthrop. He also will work as a graduate assistant in Winthrop’s International Center and as a tennis instructor for the health and physical education department. “I feel like I’ve gotten everything out of Winthrop that I intended and much more.”

The first dual honors degree student to graduate from Winthrop, Bobbi Gentry of Charleston, S.C., is a double major in political science and psychology. She spent much of her senior year conducting research in two areas. She studied youth voting patterns, as well as how school tracking can be seen as another level of public school segregation. In her final days at Winthrop, Gentry received the Mary Mildred Sullivan Award, which recognizes an outstanding female member of the graduating class. Gentry will begin working on a Ph.D. this fall at City University of New York in New York City.

"For everything Winthrop has given me, I hope that I have given back to the Winthrop community with my research and devotion,” Gentry said.

The college experience for Felicia Pope of Greenwood, S.C., consisted of taking a full course load and working 30 hours a week in marketing and sales for a local skylight and roofing company. The senior received several scholarships that helped pay for half her tuition and fees. However, she worked to pay the remainder of her college costs. With tips learned as a student assistant in Winthrop’s Career Services, Pope secured a job. Two days after graduation, Pope joined Centex Construction Company in Charlotte, N.C., as a marketing coordinator. “Nothing is given to you. You have to work for it and pray. The big misconception I find with some students is that they expect Winthrop to find them a job. You have to be a self-starter and be motivated to get what you want.”
 

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