Alumni Outcomes

Casey McBride ’14 Imagine your first day of school as a brand new teacher fresh out of teacher-training boot camp led by Teach for America. Now imagine that day in Walnut Park, not far from Ferguson, Mo., on the day after Michael Brown was killed. The cure for cancer? A new fuel source? An end to war? Sermons to open hearts? Art that redefines humanity? It’s all ready to be discovered by McBride’s class. If given the chance. Picture the blocks around the school: houses without roofs, walls crumbling, a few solitary figures roaming the streets, drug deals and gangs catching kids in the crossfire. Now walk into your fifth-grade classroom and meet 26 inquisitive, heart-breakingly bright, buzzing children. You don’t yet realize that so much of your energy in your first year will be given to keeping these young lives safe. You’ll be reaching deeply into their beings to draw out so much more than standardized tests demand or what this neighborhood—largely abandoned by the world—would seem to expect. Casey McBride ’14 says that people in St. Louis open their eyes wide when she tells them she teaches at Walnut Park Confluence Academy. But she wouldn’t be anywhere else. As a student at Transylvania McBride was known for getting involved. She was president of the Student Activities Board, active with her sorority and manager of the annual phone-a-thon that raises money for the university. When she graduated in 2013,

Read “Such Promise”

Tari Young ’03 Tari Young ’03 was never your stereotypical “computer nerd.” While earning her computer science degree, she was also becoming one of Transylvania’s most prolific basketball players in school history. Over 1,500 points later, Young’s achievements in athletics translated to a discipline that still drives her today. “Discipline and pressure are two things I had to encounter and deal with daily,” Young remembers. “From practices to games, there was always an intentional focus on being the best you could be on the court. This easily translated into other aspects of my life, including my career.” That career got off to a quick start. During her sophomore year, Young’s computer science professor asked if she would be interested in an internship. An interview at Lexmark led to a part-time job as a software tester. Upon graduating, she stepped right into the position of software engineer. She worked as a “team lead” for the scanner mechanism firmware team, transferring her leadership skills from the court to the office. In 2010, Lexmark sent her on assignment to the Philippines, giving Young good work experience, and a new world perspective. “I built strong relationships while there that had a positive impact on getting work done when I returned to Lexington and had to interface with Cebu (Philippines),” she says. “It was a very humbling experience, and I am so glad I was given the chance to not only interact with fellow employees

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Research with Biology Professor Becky Fox If you live in Lexington, you may have noticed a chameleon-haired professor leading gaggles of bird-watching students around. But you may not be aware of the scope of her research on house sparrows or the level of student involvement in the process. “I like birds,” Professor Becky Fox admits with a smile. A first-generation college grad who grew up in a household with backyard birdwatchers and pet parrots, she finished her undergraduate degree uncertain about continuing in molecular biology. She let her love of birds guide her to the University of California, Davis, and a master’s in avian sciences. Taking classes in animal behavior and behavioral ecology, she became fascinated by some of the ecological questions and decided to stay for a Ph.D. Why are individuals different? That’s the fundamental question. Dr. Fox is interested in individual personality in animals. Through a collaboration with the University of Kentucky’s Dave Westneat (whose son Michael Westneat ’11 attended Transy), and a grant they received from the National Science Foundation, Prof. Fox has been able to take her research on house sparrows from the indoor lab into the natural environment at Maine Chance Farm, UK’s research farm. The grant also pays her students to assist in gathering a large data set from 100-200 nest boxes. “One of the things we’re asking in our research on house sparrows is the same question you might ask about people,” Dr. Fox

Read “Taking Wing”

Josh Buckman ’16 Josh Buckman ’16, a native of Owensboro, Ky., is graduating into a full-time job as an analyst at MJX Asset Management in New York City—his dream job. It’s a direct result of his summer internship at the company—what Buckman calls “one of the best experiences of my life.”  The internship, made possible through Transy’s alumni network and the 100 Doors to Success mentoring program, exposed him to an unexpected side of finance and to a level of professionalism and an approach to living that redefined how he measures success. “If I hadn’t come to Transy, I would not have interned at this awesome firm. Transy was my platform for doing that,” Buckman says. The economics and business administration double major says he owes his new career to Transylvania’s liberal arts education and the mentoring he received through 100 Doors to Success. “Anyone can run some numbers,” he explains, “but if you can’t read and write critically, you’re not going to excel. Being able to effectively comprehend your work and collaborate with others is just as important,” he adds. “The liberal arts refined my ability to communicate across many media and shaped my thoughts to be more three-dimensional.” Although Buckman didn’t seek out a mentor, the opportunity came to him when one of his professors, who knows him well, matched his specific interests in finance to an alumnus based in Houston. The mentoring relationship led to new insights, additional networking

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