Articles by Diana

can you read this? Olny srmat poelpe can.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

You are pursuing one of the toughest and best majors in Smeal. You will come out of college making $60k. Everyone is going to want to hire you and you are going to be so successful, making your way up in the ranks of a leading Fortune 500 company.

This is what I am told when I tell people that I am majoring in Actuarial Science. Sure, one of the reasons I chose not to major in Accounting or Finance is because Actuaries are fewer in numbers and they are still highly respected. The prospects of making a decent salary are good and that is honestly one of the reasons I chose not to go into something like education. I am not looking to become a millionaire but to be able to send all of my future children to whatever colleges they want to go to is definitely something I want to be able to afford. Oh, and I love math and stat (I know, I know… I’m weird). I am good at what I do and as far as math and stat go, I am really interested in the material I learn in my classes. But today I was talking to one of my coworkers and I wonder if I will really love my future job and be happy with the work I will do for the next 40 years of my life.

Matt, a Graphic Design major in the College of Arts and Architecture, works for the RIIT Group. Among other things, he creates various images for the Smeal College of Business - whether they be used on websites or on iTunesU. He showed me some of his creations and wow, I am jealous of his talent! He even took two minutes to show me a quick “demo” on how to create one of his masterpieces — TWO MINUTES! Matt loves what he does and it seems like he really has fun. He gets to be creative and his job is never the same from day to day.

When I was in middle school I enjoyed using PhotoShop (granted I only knew the basics) and I wanted to be a graphic artist. I once told my mom that I wanted to work for Hallmark and design their greeting cards (you can laugh). But as I grew up I kind of labeled that idea as “unrealistic” and committed myself to becoming a business student at Penn State. I had enjoyed art but because I never considered myself outstanding in that arena, and because I spent my free time playing sports rather than making art, I figured I didn’t have what it took to pursue graphic design in college. I knew that going into Actuarial Science would mean working in an office everyday with relatively fewer opportunities for creativity.

I am excited for my actuarial internship this summer and for the career that lies in my future, but I just wonder and HOPE that I will love my job and feel passionate about what I do. But isn’t that what everyone wants? Isn’t that what everyone strives for in life - “success” and happiness? I guess it is just something I will have to continually strive for and try to find in the years ahead.

Attention all females with a business major – could your career benefit from a fun professional development opportunity? With future internships and full-time jobs on the horizon, are you looking for a chance to network with successful female Penn State alumni? Who isn’t?!

In celebration of the organization’s 10th anniversary, Women In Business will be hosting The Powerful Women Paving the Way Conference from March 27-29, 2008. I can guarantee this is an event that you will remember and an opportunity that you should not pass up.

The conference will present inspirational perspectives from accomplished women leaders. Dynamic speakers will provide issues-based insights and knowledge that can be applied to your own professional and personal life. Think about how much this will help you when you have to answer tough interview questions!

This event is a great professional development opportunity with a personal touch. Interact with successful alumni and connect with the next generation of women leaders. I have attended similar events and can attribute my latest internship to the skills and knowledge I have acquired from talking to women who are currently successful in the “real world” positions that I am seeking. I bet that without a doubt, you will gain more from this experience than you probably expect.

For an overview of the agenda (which includes meals and interactive activities) and for more information, check out http://www.smeal.psu.edu/powerfulwomen.

Two of my greatest passions in life are Penn State and traveling. Recently, at 3:00am on a Tuesday morning I was woken by a text message. My dad, a 1985 graduate of Penn State, was in Belgium for a business trip. He had arrived at the train station in Brussels and just stepped onto the platform when the first thing he noticed was a person wearing a Penn State sweatshirt. Being that we are from a family that bleeds blue and white, he just had to let me know! These days, it rarely surprises me and still always makes me smile when we run into Penn Staters during our travels all over the world – whether it is in the Badlands, South Dakota at Mount Rushmore, France, or Monte Carlo.

I recently came across an article entitled, “50 Ways Penn State Has Shaped the World” (you can find this at http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/50ways.html). The list includes number 17: “Engineers Everywhere – One in 50 professionally licensed engineers in the U.S. is a Penn State graduate.” My dad, an electronics engineer, is living proof. Number 37: “Penn Staters Everywhere – Penn State has more than 466,000 living alumni. One in every 720 Americans, and one in every 70 Pennsylvanians, is a graduate of Penn State.” The person who was in the Brussels train station at the exact same time as my dad is certainly evidence of this.

One day I hope my job provides me with the travel opportunities my dad enjoys (he averages about four major international trips a year). If I make enough contacts while in college, I just might be able to visit most of the countries that interest me by simply visiting other Penn State grads! The global presence of Penn State and the opportunities that provides is just one of the reasons why I know that I would never go to college anywhere else.

When I was growing up, my parents always told me two things: 1) Never take anything for granted, and 2) Never turn down an opportunity.

In May of 2005 I had to create an anthology of various pieces of writing, song lyrics, stories, newspaper clippings, pictures, etc. for English class at the end of my senior year in high school. I was instructed to choose a title reflective of the material in my anthology and therefore, to choose a title that reflected my feelings upon graduation of high school. With the start of college right around the corner and my parents’ advice in my mind, I chose the title “It’s my Life and It’s Now or Never.” You might recognize this line from the chorus of Bon Jovi’s hit, “It’s My Life.”

Already knowing that I was going to attend Penn State, I chose that title for my anthology because I thought I was about to encounter a plethora of opportunities at Penn State, and it turns out that I was right.

This past weekend was THON and as I lived in the BJC for three days, surrounded by all of my friends and thousands of fellow Penn Staters and families, I was reminded yet again of all of the fantastic opportunities Penn State has to offer – opportunities to become involved, to meet amazing people, to make a difference in the community, to help a stranger, to become friends with a stranger, and to learn from others. Additionally, the scale and magnitude of THON and its accomplishments ($6,615,318.04 for the kids) reminded me that impossible is nothing when you attend Penn State.

Similarly, walking through the atrium of the Business Building on a beautiful sunny day reminds me of how great I have it at Penn State. As I enter the Business Building, I realize that the buildings on this campus are magnificent. I peer into the Trading Room and I know I have access to any technological resource I may ever need. I look through the glass windows and see that I have the best football stadium to go to for the most fun football Saturdays. I walk by the Corporate Relations office and remember that there is a career fair twice a year with hundreds of employers who travel many hours seeking my resume and that there is always an advisor willing to answer my many job search questions. I think of the jobs offers I received thanks in part to the information on the Simplicity website about the open positions and information sessions. Then I remember all of the resources I have yet to use, all of the people I still have to learn from, and all of the ways I can become more involved in something great.

So far, I have done a pretty good job of using the resources that Penn State, and in particular, Smeal, have to offer. It is my life and I know that now is the time to take advantage of all resources that are at my disposable and that are free (well, I do pay out-of-state tuition, but you get the point). We have it good here at Penn State and we have pretty much anything you could ever need. Impossible is nothing. There are so many resources that are here to help you accomplish your goals. The only problem I have encountered is that I only have 4 years here!

I encourage everyone to never take for granted all that Penn State has to offer… before it is too late. Talk to your advisor. My mom, a Penn State grad, said her top academic regret at Penn State was that she didn’t get to know her advisor and she felt that she missed out on a lot of information that would have benefited her immensely. You’ve heard it before – you only have 4 years here before you enter the “real world” and work for the rest of your life. So yes, take this time to enjoy yourself. But also take advantage of the resources Smeal has to offer before you go into the real world and are left with some regrets and a lot of questions.