Alumni Spotlight

Profile of One of Our Graduates

Name:  Aliceanna “Ali” Stopher
Major, Minor:  Mass Communications and New Media, English
Year Graduated:  2012
Job Now:  Grants Manager, CASA of Larimer County 

What have you been up to since graduation? Less than a month after graduating, I moved to San Francisco, where I worked a few sales and administrative jobs, took creative writing classes at UC Berkeley Extension where I earned a post-baccalaureate certification, started publishing, and built a writing community I cherished then and now. After four fruitful and full years, I left the city for Colorado State University’s Creative Writing MFA program in 2016 with an emphasis in fiction. I was lucky to earn a fellowship that funded my time in the program, gave me a small stiped, and allowed me to gain experience in both teaching creative writing and working closely with the program’s director on a wide variety of support tasks. In my last year in the MFA I had a baby who is now (at six-years-old) still the loudest and brightest person in any room she’s in. It took me a while to find my feet after grad school. I sampled a few different jobs before landing at CASA of Larimer County, a child- and family-serving nonprofit where I’d volunteered during my MFA. I’ve been with CASA for the past five years and have been Grants Manager for two. My writing life isn’t as lush as it was in San Francisco or in grad school, but my primary identity is still a writer, and I feel fortunate to have found a career that keeps those muscles flexible while I learn to balance parenting with my creative life.
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? CASA of Larimer County serves children and families who’ve experienced abuse, neglect, and family violence here in Northern Colorado. We’re part of a state and national network of CASA programs, so you might be somewhat familiar with the work we do. I think, for me, the best thing about my job is that I get to do something I love (storytelling) to directly fund programs that connect youth in the foster system to critical resources, provide parents with trauma-informed wraparound support, and help families stay connected to one another in crisis. It’s impactful work, both for me personally and for the organization. High stakes! But in a very fun and rewarding way.
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? Every year our local middle and high schools partner with a family foundation to give directly to nonprofits that align with the students’ vision and values. Each fall, I write grants that are read by these students, and if the students feel like we might be a good fit for their gift, they invite me in the spring to present to their classes on our work and how we would leverage their funds. I love getting to do this and getting to be in front of a classroom again! I was surprised during my MFA how much I loved teaching, and it’s such a treat to be able to connect with students again. I presented at an alternative high school recently where I got to share a little bit of my story—how I grew up in foster care, the advocates who were in my corner, and how my personal experience has informed my current work and the passion I have for the kids our programs serve. Being a part of our community’s young people starting to engage with the issues that impact their peers directly is one of my favorite parts of the work I do.
How did our program help prepare you for your current job? Grant writing as storytelling is one sexier way to explain this work, but there’s an element of grant writing and management that is more akin to taking an open book test. While at Shepherd I developed a host of skills I use daily in my current role—research, persuasive writing, critical analysis, and editing. As a senior, I took a seminar with Dr. Ellzey where we put films and literature in conversation with each other, writing several essays over the course of the semester. I still think about that class, particularly as I’m still using those same analytical skills and crafting cogent theses and supporting arguments in the grants I write. My work is especially writing intensive, but even in other jobs I’ve had over the years, solid comprehension and analysis have served me well in building work relationships, communicating effectively, and continuing to grow.
What advice would you give current students? We’re social animals who aren’t meant to go it alone; we need each other. Try to take advantage of the communal elements of the college experience and seek out your people (but don’t worry if you don’t find them yet, you have plenty of time). For life in general, the hard stuff is harder when you try to overcome it by yourself. The people who love you want to help you, try and let them. For writers, seek out other writers who push you to grow, share your work (it doesn’t have to be perfect!), and read widely to figure out the work you want yours to be in conversation with. Last and painfully specific—if you’re interested in an MFA for creative writing, go for it, but 1) take some time off before you apply to read and write and live, and 2) pursue a fully-funded program!

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March 2025

Name:  Matthew Evans Chelf
Major, Minor:  English, History
Year Graduated:  2013
Job Now:  Instructor at Portland Community College and Writing Specialist at Oregon Health and Science University’s School of Nursing

What have you been up to since graduation? After graduation, I took a year off. During that time, I moved back home to Kentucky, bounced between Louisville and where my family lives in central Kentucky, and helped my family restore our farm, which has been in our family now nine generations, after it had fallen into disrepair. That August, I moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to join Lehigh University’s graduate program in Literature and Social Justice, where I earned my M.A. in English and taught composition to first-year students. After graduating from Lehigh in 2016, I moved back to Kentucky for a brief stint and then moved to Portland, Oregon, where I’ve been ever since. In fall 2017, I began teaching composition and creative writing at Portland Community College. Then in November 2023, I joined OHSU’s School of Nursing as a Writing Specialist. In this role, I help a wide range of nursing students, from first year greenhorns to those working on their Doctorate of Nursing Practice, with their writing and learning management. Besides moving around and work, I married my wife, explored the state of Oregon, taught myself analog film photography, expanded my record collection, got a bunch of tattoos, and got back into creative writing, which has been published in Five Points, Kestrel, Northwest Review, and some other places. I also feed many feral neighborhood cats.
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? My favorite thing about teaching is getting to know people. At PCC and OHSU, I’m working with people from all walks of life. People coming back to school after being a mechanic for twenty-five years, immigrants, refugees, and travel students from all over the world, individuals from multicultural and marginalized backgrounds who have unique perspectives. Portland has a lot of transplants like myself, and everyone has a story about how they got here and where they’re trying to go. I see myself as helping people get to where they’re trying to go and getting to know them in the meantime.
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? It’s hard to pick just one, but I really enjoying helping students who take my creative writing class land their first publication. I like seeing people affirmed in their talents and goals.
How did our program help you prepare for your current job? Almost in every way. At Shepherd, I got a solid education in literature, writing, and, particularly, peer-tutoring pedagogy. I even got job experience as a writing tutor. Most importantly, it’s where I got an idea of what I want the classroom space to look and feel like.
What advice would you give current students? Three things. To know that what you’re doing matters. To ask for help, and don’t put off asking for help. To know that you’ll change. When I first moved across the country, I never thought I’d write or step into a classroom ever again, but I was wrong.

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October 2024

Name:  Liam Redding
Major, Minor:  Business Administration, English
Year Graduated:  2019
Job Now:  Director of Revenue Operations at Network Optix

What have you been up to since graduation? I had a pretty non-traditional college experience. During my junior year at Shepherd, my first daughter, Everleigh, was born. Since graduating, I have welcomed two more beautiful daughters into the world, Indie and Flora. Right out of college, I worked for a local marketing agency, where I developed a versatile skill set. I started my career on the creative side but eventually transitioned to more technical work. After 4-5 years working between two agencies, I moved to a corporate role at an AI tech company based in Walnut Creek, California, and I have worked remotely for them for the last two years. I’m also really proud that my wife and I are celebrating our 7th year of marriage on December 1st of this year!
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? Network Optix is a global company, so my favorite part of the job is interacting and collaborating with brilliant people from all over the world. I’m regularly on calls with coworkers from Taiwan, Australia, Dubai, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, and more. I also get to be on the cutting edge of the artificial intelligence movement and see how a Fortune 5000 company operates at scale.
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? I’ve built much of my career around a software called HubSpot. They hold an annual conference in Boston called INBOUND. At last year’s conference, I had a special moment with Yamini Rangan, the CEO of HubSpot. I shared pictures of my daughters and explained our journey. I was able to tell her about the struggles we’ve faced as a young family and how we’ve overcome them. It was a very special moment of reflection for me in my career.
How did an English minor help you prepare for your current job? How does it help you succeed in your work today? Minoring in English has made a massive impact on my career. One of the core fundamentals of Revenue Operations is documenting all the processes you create and putting together training materials. I’ve also used my writing regularly for creative projects and thought leadership. The most important skill you can have in business and life is being an effective communicator, and that heavily relies on being able to read and write at a high level.
What advice would you give current students, especially those considering a minor or major in English? The English program is truly remarkable at Shepherd University! The Department of English, History, and Modern Languages has some of the best and most caring professors, and they work hard to make every class and lesson memorable. I think back on my favorite moments in college, and it always brings me back to the roundtable in the English room, discussing a text or book with the rest of the class. I loved hearing all the different perspectives and takeaways. I always found those conversations to be really insightful, and I miss those moments. Enjoy every second because it will be gone before you know it!

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September 2024

Name:  Robert Dugan
Major, Minor:  Business (Entrepreneurship concentration), English
Year Graduated:  2011
Job Now:  Coordinator of Curriculum and Attendance Morgan County Public Schools

What have you been up to since graduation? I’ve been up to a lot since 2011. I worked at an industrial contractor doing robotic inspections for oil refineries, lube plants, and generating stations. I did that for a little over two years. That job involved a lot of travel and manual labor. Those were good experiences to have right after graduation. It expanded my horizons. Being a poor kid from West Virginia, I would have never been able to see Hollywood or New Orleans or the Grand Canyon without that job, but it wasn’t for me long term. I quit that job and, out of desperation more than anything, got a substitute teaching certification. Day-to-day substitute teaching turned into long-term subbing, which turned into my Master’s degree (Masters of Arts in Teaching with Secondary English Language Arts content area certification, 2015), which turned into becoming an English teacher. I served two years as Morgan County’s Curriculum and Technology Coach, and now I’m the Coordinator of Curriculum and Attendance. My absolute love affair with teaching and learning has afforded me a wonderful career helping young people in my community, and for that I am so eternally grateful. I was inspired to get my doctorate by Thomas Jefferson and my wonderful wife, Ashley. We went on a day trip to Monticello, and our tour guide was talking about Jefferson’s tireless drive. He was a revolutionary, authoring the country’s founding documents. He designed his own home. He founded a university. He was president. Looking out from Monticello over UVA, I thought, “I can do more.” I applied to the program at Shenandoah the next week, and my wife has been an untiring source of encouragement and support.
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? How did an English minor help you prepare for your current job? How does it help you succeed in your work today? I am starting a new job this school year, and so I’m not quite sure what the best part of my new role will be, but I can confidently say becoming an educator, working with children and families in my community, has given me a rich and fulfilling career. I’m fortunate to work in Morgan County, where there are many opportunities for teachers to learn and to lead. I have had such great mentorship during my career here. So, if I had to choose a favorite thing, I would say it’s that, in Morgan County, teachers are encouraged and enabled to grow professionally. To go back a bit before going forward, I was always a bookworm. My family didn’t have much disposable income when I was a kid, but there was always money for books. The importance of reading was emphasized in my family, as was the importance of education. When I was in high school—as silly as this sounds—I won my grade level competition for the West Virginia Young Writers Contest. I had teachers who encouraged me to write and identify as a writer. Reading and writing are my hobbies, and they are my most consistent source of joy, and they have been for some time. I said all of that to say this: I minored in English because I did not enjoy my business classes. That’s not a knock on those seeking business degrees. The things I learned as a result of studying business at Shepherd gave me a greater understanding of my finances, and that understanding has given me financial security, but what people actually pay me for is communication. My English minor is what people pay me for. I’m a teacher at heart. I take complex ideas and make them digestible. I do this through things like analogy, mnemonics, metaphors, similes, and thoughtful questioning. I stand in front of students and teachers, and I tell them stories. I write brochures and curriculum documents. My business is teaching and learning, but at its root, my business is wordsmithing. I didn’t major in English because, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, I didn’t see an English degree as being economically viable. It’s ironic that, of all my schooling, that English minor has probably offered the greatest return. It is the foundation upon which I have built a career.
What advice would you give current students, especially those considering a minor or major in English? My advice would be to just do it. Don’t make the mistake I did of disregarding the humanities because of all the doom and gloom about job prospects. I use my English training all the time. Apart from my job, my English coursework, specifically the literary analysis training, has assisted me so much in my dissertation writing. I know that will seem lofty and abstract to an undergraduate, but trust me. If you are planning on furthering your academic career, those papers you write while studying literature will train you for writing a Master’s thesis or dissertation. Setting aside the profession for a moment, my understanding of literature and narrative have enriched my personal life in ways that are invaluable to me. I enjoy books, film, video games, and television so much more because I understand the construction of narrative and the writing process. It’s the difference between going to an art museum as an artist and going to an art museum because I like pretty pictures. My enjoyment of all narrative media is so much deeper and richer because I have studied literature. Studying English has been one of the most, if not the most professionally and personally rewarding experiences of my life. Just do it.

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July 2024

Name:  Caroline Kirkpatrick
Major:  English Education
Year Graduated:  2016
Job Now:  School Counselor for an intermediate school (3rd – 5th graders)

What have you been up to since graduation? Right after graduation—like three days after I finished the fall semester—I hopped on a train and moved to Florida! I worked a rather odd assortment of positions at the Walt Disney World resort, including attractions in Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom, theaters and shows in Hollywood Studios, crowd control and PAC at Star Wars Land, and finally driving safaris at Animal Kingdom. I also worked part time at Universal Orlando Resort as a marketing lead. While all of these roles were incredibly rewarding, I loved driving safaris and getting to non-traditionally teach every single day. My time at the theme parks eventually came to a close, and I began teaching in Kissimmee, Florida in 2019. The pandemic hit, causing school to go online, and I found myself teaching my students in Florida from my father’s guest room in West Virginia. I started looking for a job back in West Virginia and found myself full circle, back at my alma mater, Musselman High School. I taught all four grades over my three years there! I mostly taught English, but I also got to try my hand at mythology, broadcast journalism, and yearbook. Additionally, I coached the Academic Challenge Team. For the next school year, I have accepted a position as an intermediate School Counselor. I am so excited to take this next step in my educational career! Beyond school, I book blog and have been given awesome opportunities to meet and work with authors and publishing companies to promote books. I have two pet hedgehogs and a chinchilla that take up the remaining bit of free time. Right now, I am pursuing a Master’s degree in school counseling with an anticipated graduation date of December 2025.
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? I just finished my last year as a classroom teacher at the same high school that I graduated from, so it is really cool to have students enjoy the same places and activities and things that I did when I was a student. I never thought I would be the person to have “back in my day” stories! I also just really love my students. They are such fantastic people! I love helping them discover their new favorite book or watching them shine in electives or just watching them have their “ah-ha” learning moments. I am really excited to head to an intermediate school next year as a counselor to experience these “ah-ha” moments with a much different demographic!
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? I love when students pick me as “their person.” Of all of the teachers and staff in the school, they could ask literally anyone to help with their situations, and it is so cool that I have built some kind of relationship where they feel comfortable enough to ask me for help. Sometimes the situations are tough, but when the kids meet a resolution that they are happy with, it is worth the stress. This was really the thing that led me to pursue counseling. Having one kid just walk in the door with a “Hey, can I talk to you?”—it’s truly wonderful that a kid felt safe enough to trust me, when that student could have picked anyone else.
How did our program help you prepare for your current job? Shepherd is such a great environment to grow and learn in. I will never stop raving about how fantastic all of my professors were! I loved that I had the opportunity to explore and learn about so many stories and books and my professors truly loved what they were teaching. I have used that positivity to help me try and connect with students. Both inside and outside of the classroom, my professors were always willing to be people to lean on, and I hope to take that into my new counseling job. I hope to show kids that school is worth more than just learning. Even in teaching, some days are more successful than others, but I hope to inspire my kids the way my professors did me. While the English program taught me so many cool things about authors and writing and reading, it taught me that learning is something that you should find joy in doing, and I hope to inspire students to do the same. I have some pretty cool role models to look up to as I try to do that.
What advice would you give current students? I would tell current students so many things! I would say to get to know your professors. Become friends with your classmates. Go to office hours. Ask questions. Most of all, I would tell students to take the electives that interest you, even if they are outside of your comfort zone. Learning is 100% what you make of it, and you are given so many opportunities at Shepherd to explore niches in English. Take those opportunities.

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June 2024

Name:  Brittney Scaccia
Major, Minor:  English, Psychology
Year Graduated:  2009
Job Now:  Lead Software Engineer

What have you been up to since graduation?  A lot can happen in fifteen years. I graduated in 2009, not widely known as the best employment year for new liberal arts graduates, so I moved to Chicago and got work at a temp agency. The agency assigned me out for a few weeks to do data entry at a downtown software company, where my supervisor hired me full time to their training department, thanks to my background in writing and assistant teaching at Shepherd. As I learned more about software through my work there, I transferred to the engineering department as a tester. Over time, I became obsessed with troubleshooting every problem down to the smallest detail that I could understand, and I decided to make the switch from testing software to writing it myself by enrolling in a three-month, full-time software development “boot camp” program. I had a blast there, and I’ve worked as a “full-stack” engineer on data-driven enterprise web applications ever since. During the boot camp program, I met my partner, who is from the Pittsburgh area where we now live; when we’re not doing dev things, we feed the birds, watch baseball, and play old time Appalachian music at our home in the woods.
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? The leadership component of the “lead engineer” role is the most interesting and most important part of the job. One half of this is decision-making: wisdom and sound judgment are required to prioritize project goals, direct your team’s time and resources accordingly, and communicate effectively with all parties. The other half is mentorship. Taking any measure of responsibility for others’ success can be a heavy burden, but watching them grow in their skills and in their careers thanks in part to my guidance is the most rewarding element of what I do. I feel strongly that becoming more effective as a leader and manager demands that I become a better human being all the time.
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? Probably the time I received an angry company-wide email (1) advising against drying sweaty gym socks in the break room microwave, and (2) notifying the unknown person who’d done so that his or her charred socks were available for pickup in the CFO’s office. (It wasn’t me!) Office work may be uninspiring, but let no one say it lacks drama.
How did our program help you prepare for your current job? This is actually my favorite topic. People think code is math you write for computers to read; in fact, code is language you write for people to read. As a student writer in Shepherd’s English program, I learned to think about my readers and how they will understand a story I write. As a writer of code, my readers now double as other writers who must continue my story in the form of writing the next new feature. They must be able to clearly understand what my story is about and how it’s organized (i.e., what I’ve asked the computer to do and why) in order to change it without breaking it. An engineering boot camp equipped me with technical skills to give instructions to computers, but it was my college years spent on close reading and careful writing that gave me the tools to understand code as communication with other engineers and to zoom out from technical questions to the bigger picture of what our “story” is trying to accomplish and for whom. Those are the skills and insights that set me apart in my field and qualify me for higher-level work.
What advice would you give current students? Explore both academically and socially. Read the whole course catalog; drop in on lectures; attend events; talk to everyone. You’ll have plenty of time in life to focus on job skills, but just a few years to freely indulge your curiosity, to think deeply and broadly about a range of practical and impractical topics, to find surprising connections among ideas. You may build insights and friendships that last a lifetime, and not only with your peers! Go to office hours, because your professors are interesting.

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May 2024

Name:  Patricia Christine (Hawkins) Muller
Major, Minor:  English (Creative Writing), Journalism
Year Graduated:  2015
Job Now:  Owner of Double Iris Yoga and Massage, LLC at two locations in Shepherdstown and Charles Town, West Virginia

What have you been up to since graduation? I managed, bartended, and served tables at the same restaurant and Tap House through college and for 8 years total from 2012 – 2020. I learned and honed a lot of skills and business sense during my employment in the service industry. During that time, after graduating from Shepherd, I attended the Asheville Yoga Center to acquire my 230 hour Registered Yoga Teacher Certification through Yoga Alliance in September 2016 and then graduated from the Central Maryland School of Massage in February 2018. In under two months of graduating from CMSM I founded my business Double Iris Yoga and Massage, LLC in Shepherdstown April 1, 2018 and then a second location August 15, 2020 in Charles Town during the Pandemic. With gratitude and humility, I can say DIYM turned 6 years old April 1, 2024. My now-husband and I bought our home in Charles Town, WV in October 2018. We got married in September 2020, birthed our first child, a daughter, whom we named Christine, April 4th of 2021, and then I gave birth to our son, Robbie, September 27th of 2022. So now, I am a business owner, a Licensed Massage Therapist and Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT-230, RYT-500 and YACEP), and a 24/7 full-time momma of 2!
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? The space I get to hold for the people in our community to practice self-care, self-reflection, and self-assessment in the name of visionary healing is the highest honor, duty, and gift.
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? There are honestly too many to name. I sincerely love what I do. The level of trust clients and students have in me is truly amazing, and special. And I’m still baffled that I have 12 people who want to work for me between both locations. I’m very grateful. I love watching everyone grow and evolve through self awareness in body and mind as teachers, therapists, clients, students, and collectively as a community in general.
How did our program help you prepare for your current job? I probably would never have found yoga if it weren’t for my Advanced Composition Class with Dr. Christy Wenger called “The Zen of Writing,” where we incorporated mindfulness techniques and two full-length yoga classes taught by Gena Rockwell, who eventually became my mentor. Additionally, the experience of college in general helped me develop proficiency in time management, stress management, organization, goal-setting, communication, creativity, analysis, critical thinking, and of course writing skills, which now help me with writing important documents like waivers, and it all also buffers my marketing skills. I also feel like my prior experience in higher education at Shepherd University put me ahead of some of my peers in my continuing education at Yoga Training and Massage School in terms of being able to organize, handle, and perform with the information and workload.
What advice would you give current students? Trust the process and set a vision. Get creative and inspired about how you will make that vision a reality. Practice gratitude for the journey and cultivate mindfulness. Execute with relentlessness. Give back to your community when, where, and how you can.

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April 2024

Name:  Julia Athey
Double Major/Dual Degrees:  English (Creative Writing) and Business (Marketing)
Year Graduated:  2017
Job Now:  Special Education Teacher

What have you been up to since graduation? I did a little of this and that after graduating trying to find a career path that really fit me. Retail was not a good fit, but the travel industry was a pretty good one until the pandemic hit. After that I ended up getting certified as a substitute teacher and immediately getting a job. It was a job teaching sixth grade science for which I felt woefully under-prepared. Science will never be my jam, but I fell in love with teaching. Then I was inspired by the Special Education teacher and decided that is what I wanted to do with my life. She was incredible and so passionate about her job that I desperately wanted to have that in my life. It ended up working out for me to get a Master’s in the Art of Teaching online, which I really wanted to do because I felt it would help me feel more confident as a teacher. While this education helped me, I can see how a master’s is not for everyone (lots of reading and writing—all of which my undergraduate degree had prepared me for). I’m now in my fourth year of teaching Special Education and truly love my job.
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? I’m sure every teacher says this, but it’s the students! It wasn’t until I became a teacher that I realized how much satisfaction I get in introducing something completely new to someone. For example, I teach “The Tell-Tale Heart” and watching students fall in love with Poe every year is beautiful. The surprise in them when they like his stories is always a great moment for me, especially when they come in the next year asking if we will be reading it again. While they are disappointed when we won’t be, I get the joy of sweeping them into the drama of Romeo and Juliet, and no one can resist the spectacle of that!
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? Last year another teacher was explaining a Shakespeare joke that one of my students had told in class. None of his classmates, except the ones in my class, got the joke. It was at least two months after I had taught them that unit on Shakespeare. I have no memory of the joke, but I remember how proud I felt when I heard this and how happy I was when the student came to class later to explain his joke to me. If I’m excited to teach, then I find that most of the time the students are excited to learn, which makes each day a favorite day for me.
How did our program help you prepare for your current job? The English program is why I fell in love with learning. It inspired me to want to learn and bring that joy into my current job and into my life. While I did go on to become a teacher, which feels very much like a cliché for an English major, I do feel like my degree reaches outside my career. Loving learning and taking that into every aspect of my life is something I credit to my time at Shepherd. The classes I took, the people I met, and the professors who instructed me helped me feel that I should always be trying something new. Some of those things are as simple as picking up a new hobby (of which I have many) or listening to a new song (easily something that happens daily), but I feel it has impacted my entire outlook on life. My English degree helped me in all the various jobs I’ve done and taught me to bring the passion I saw from all my professors into everything I do. My biggest hope is that I can inspire the love of learning I saw at Shepherd in those I work with and teach now.
What advice would you give current students? I feel like there are so many things told to college students. Ultimately, try to love your classes and enjoy them so that you can enjoy whatever you go on to do after graduating. Don’t feel like your degree shapes your life; it can if you want, but it doesn’t have to. Lastly, some advice that my middle school students seem to need daily:  don’t worry about silly things!

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March 2024

Name:  Jennifer Emch
Major, Minor: English (Literature), Education
Year Graduated:  2016
Job Now:  AmeriCorps Coordinator

What have you been up to since graduation? After graduating in December 2016, I moved home to Wetzel County, West Virginia. I was lucky enough to secure a position as a long-term substitute for Junior and Senior English. In 2017, I taught middle school Spanish as a long-term substitute teacher. Then in 2018, I accepted a position as a full-time Spanish teacher at my high school alma mater. Teaching Spanish, which was not on my post grad bingo card, was such a great experience. I left my teaching position in 2022. I truly loved teaching, but I am enjoying the break! I started my current role in January 2023. Some additional highlights: I coach a successful high school girls track team, which is my pride and joy! I was fortunate enough to see Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Houston, which was truly magical and I cried the whole time. I enjoy watching Jersey Shore reruns, cooking, birdwatching, and playing pickleball. I have a dog (Oakey) and a cat (Birdie Finch). My boyfriend, Ean, and I just bought our first home! 
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? Energy Express is a children’s reading program that serves children all over West Virginia, and it changes lives. It is an AmeriCorps summer program that enlists college students to earn service hours by working with children in their communities to improve or maintain their literacy skills. The absolute best part of my job is seeing the impact Energy Express has in West Virginia communities. For instance, in 2023, Energy Express was located in 26 counties and served 1,391 children. The children in the program get to take home a free book each week; 26,098 take-home books were distributed in 2023. We had 235 college students and community members engaged in service as AmeriCorps members! The statistics are thrilling to me because they show the positive impact of this program in West Virginia.
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? I love living in West Virginia, and as part of my position, I get to travel all over my beloved home state to promote the program and recruit AmeriCorps Members! I don’t really have a specific favorite moment, but my heart is always just so happy anytime I get to see how much fun everyone is having! The joy the AmeriCorps members bring to the children in the program (and vice versa) is beautiful. 
How did our program help you prepare for your current job? I really loved the round-table style classes that most of my professors opted for. While intimidating at first, I quickly grew to love the discussions my classmates and I were able to have. In my current job, I do a lot of networking events and give many presentations. I used to be very timid, but those class discussions helped me gain the confidence I needed to overcome my slight fear of public speaking.
What advice would you give current students? Don’t be nervous about speaking up in class! You’re there to hear other perspectives, so make sure you offer your own. Shepherd has such a diverse list of courses, so take courses “just for fun” as you can! Go to office hours and visit with your professors! They are there for you, and ultimately they want you to succeed.

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February 2024

Name:  Kristi Veach-Ross
Major, Minor:  English (Creative Writing), Sociology
Year Graduated:  2017
Job Now:  Executive Assistant and Communications Manager of the Shepherd University Foundation

What have you been up to since graduation? During my junior year at Shepherd I met my wife, and we moved to Martinsburg, West Virginia. Immediately after graduation I worked at Target/Starbucks where I found that despite being an incredible introvert, I enjoyed customer service. Looking for a full-time position, I started in the admissions office at Shepherd where my career in higher education began. A couple years later while pursuing my graduate degree, I had the amazing opportunity to teach a class at Shepherd. This has been one of the most challenging and rewarding positions I have held. Throughout the semester I grew as a professional, and I knew for certain that I wanted to support students during their academic journeys. I completed my masters in the College Student Development and Administration program at Shepherd.
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? My job has a lot of moving parts, and I’m constantly learning something new. I work with an experienced team who have helped me navigate my role. I work closely with our scholar and donor stories, showcasing the impact that giving has at Shepherd. I have also learned a great deal about social media, event planning, and scholarships. In this role, I get to combine my love of writing with my passion for helping others. In every job I’ve held, the one consistent is that people are often looking for someone to listen to their story, and that’s now what I get to do. Ultimately, the best part of my job is seeing the dedication of the Shepherd community. I’ve been a student at Shepherd for a while, and now, every day, I watch how committed our donors, alumni, staff, faculty, and friends are to the success of students like me.
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? In my current job, I love working at our events and watching the efforts we’ve put in all year come together. Before my current role, I spent the summer of 2021 working for the College for Kids summer camp at Hagerstown Community College. I was a judge in a “Is Snape a good guy or bad guy?” debate, a magical door in a Harry Potter scavenger hunt, and less-than-helpful kitchen support for a culinary camp. This job was an absolute delight, and I’m very thankful to have held it.
How did our program help you prepare for your current job?  The faculty in this program are unbelievably supportive. Throughout my undergraduate career, I changed my future plans countless times, and there was always a class or opportunity for me to try to see if this was the path for me. I learned about magazine writing, short stories, and digital literacy while growing as a writer and learner. I received feedback on my writing that I follow to this day. I received encouragement on taking chances and networking that has helped me get to where I am professionally. This program built up both my skills and my confidence, and while I’m not sure where exactly I want to go next with my education, I know I’m not finished learning and writing.  
What advice would you give current students? Don’t be afraid to try something outside of your comfort zone, especially if you’re like me and that zone is very small. Take the weird elective (after consulting with your advisor), go to the late-night event, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. The biggest mistake you can make is not being true to yourself, and this is the perfect time to determine who you want that person to be.

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January 2024

Name:  Katie Quinnelly
Major, Minor:  English (Creative Writing), Psychology
Year Graduated:  2017
Job Now:  Stay-at-Home Mom/Writer

What have you been up to since graduation?  I’m currently living in the state of Morelos in Mexico with my husband and three children. My oldest, Josephine, was born in 2020 during the pandemic while I was in Flagstaff, Arizona finishing my MFA in poetry at Northern Arizona University. If you’re curious about the pandemic post-partum experience, I wrote some prose poems about it, which were picked up by Lammergeier Magazine. My second, Laura, was born in 2021, and my third, Oscar, was born earlier this year, both here in Mexico. In 2017, just after I graduated from Shepherd, my chapbook, Sparrow Pie, was selected by Eggtooth Editions as the winner of their annual contest and was published the following year. The editors very kindly flew me out to Flagstaff to present my chapbook at the Northern Arizona Book Festival, where I had an interview with Thin Air Magazine, saw a cactus for the first time, and met the faculty of the MFA program at Northern Arizona University. After finishing my MFA, I applied to and was accepted to the Ph.D. program in poetry at the University of Southern Mississippi, but I deferred and eventually abandoned the program in favor of staying in Mexico to raise a family. I hope to later revisit the prospect. I write a lot and publish a little these days. Ghost City Press published my prose piece “Blood Moon” earlier this year. I make good soup. I’m happy.
What is the best/most interesting part of your job? Well, as a stay-at-home mom in Mexico, learning the Spanish language and Mexican customs has been really neat. I do a lot of shopping in the market. I love to see the freedom the Mexican people have, even in a grocery run. I prefer flies and meat hooks in the open air over the fluorescent lights and Clorox of the almighty Walmart.
What has been your favorite and/or most memorable on-the-job moment? I sing a lot of Pete Seeger to the kids while they fall asleep, and one of my favorites is “To Everything There Is a Season.” The sentiments in that song apply to my writing practice perfectly. I find that with writing, there is a time to write, and there is a time to collect material. I’ve been a sponge since I left Shepherd. It has been like one long favorite moment. It has all been memorable. One of these days, maybe I will wake up to a David Byrne moment, and I will look around and ask, “Well, how did I get here?” Perhaps then I will find a superlative moment.
How did our program help you prepare for your current job? I could gush for pages about the Shepherd faculty. I certainly wouldn’t be half the writer I am today without them. Dr. Hanrahan bestowed on me the awesome power of critical theory, and post-graduation, she spent weeks with me editing an essay I wrote on Emily Dickinson to be suitable for MFA applications, and she has always been willing to write letters of recommendation on my behalf. Dr. Messenger has been more than a professor to me over the years; she is a good friend. Dr. Pate is still my greatest influence for writing. I just got a copy of his latest, Mineral Planet, which miraculously shipped to Mexico, though letters from my mom always get lost. Every professor I had at Shepherd contributed to my current manner of reading, writing, learning, and teaching.
What advice would you give current students? I cannot sit and reminisce on my time at Shepherd without thinking of Shepherdstown’s celebration of Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday party in 2019. Like any good poet, I will steal some words to pass along, rather than writing something new. Here is Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”:

Finally, my advice: attend your lectures, but be sure to wander off sometimes.

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