What's Next?

Spring 2024 Graduates Talk About Post-Graduation Plans

By UNC Asheville

May 10^th, 2024

Lila Anderson-Varga, Environmental Studies, Geo-science concentration

What's Next? Working for a geologic consulting company and then pursuing a graduate degree in structural geology.

Any Advice? Rise above, focus on the science.

Jamon Battle, Business Management

What's Next? Planning to get a graduate degree in athletic administration (and maybe pro basketball)

Any Advice? Take the hardest classes first.

Sam Beichler, Environmental Studies

What's Next? Going to graduate school at Western Carolina University for Experiential and Outdoor Education.

Any Advice? Join Outdoor Programs! I was a trip supervisor and I made my own concentration within environmental studies, so I got to pick all the classes I wanted that led to experiential education.

Gabriana Brown, Psychology

What's Next? Pursuing medical school, with plans to do pharmacy work and be a registered behavioral technician.

Any Advice? Make sure to make connections with your professors because you can get introduced to research options and they can provide recommendations for school.

Make connections with not only your professors but your peers as well.

Abram Carter, Mass Communication

What's Next? Working in marketing for a local Asheville business.

Any Advice? Explore all of the different options in your major.

In Mass Communication, there's journalism, filming and public relations. It's good to go through all of them that way you get an idea of what you want to go into. I thought I was going to go into journalism and I’m coming out on the public relations/marketing side.

John Castellini, Mechatronics

What's Next? Off to Build Robots!

Any Advice? Stick with it! It is worth it in the end.

The first classes are really tough, so find a good group to study with.

Anthony Mason, Computer Science

What's Next? Going to grad school to get into the cybersecurity field.

Any Advice? Try everything. Its gonna be a lot, but try everything.

You never know what is going to inspire you. If you try everything you can’t say that you went to college and didn’t do things. But also manage your time, saying no is okay.

Ash Pilo, Psychology

What's Next? Getting a Masters in clinical psychology at Western Carolina University.

Any Advice? Your worth is not defined by your grades. No one can put a number on your value as a human being and you don’t need to make A’s to succeed in life.

Guilia Rodrigues, Biology

What's Next? Playing collegiate volleyball and going to graduate school for nursing.

Any Advice? Make connections. There's so many resources that you can use.

It helped me a lot because I came in as a transfer student. Getting in contact with people helped me figure out what I wanted to do.

Ellie Struble, New Media

What's Next? Looking for graphic design work in the Triangle area.

Any Advice? Be prepared to do a little bit of everything. You do all sorts of different new media programs like storyboarding and animation, 2D and 3D design and texturing. New media isn’t just for fine arts, its a little taste of everything.

Halle Theriault, Physics and Math

What's Next? Pursuing a Ph.D. in physics, specifically in optics, the study of behavior and properties of light.

Any Advice? Don’t be afraid to ask for help. don’t let needing help stop you from moving on in the physics degree.

Addison Wright, Mass Communication and Political Science

What's Next? A reporter for a local newspaper covering local government.

Any Advice? Try things out, get involved! I found my path through trying a lot of different classes and clubs and made a lot of friends through that. And developed a lot of skills from a lot of different organizations.