This year’s Alumni and Family Weekend drew many visitors to the University of Rhode Island Kingston campus. Among those in attendance were the recent graduates of the class of 2018. Almost six months out from graduation, these young alum have found themselves in a plethora of fields, courses of study and occupations around the globe.
One recent graduate, Chayse Fisher, an alumna of the college of arts and sciences finds herself in Newcastle upon Tyne, England as a an international development master’s student. After obtaining her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Fisher relocated to England where she now lives, studies and works part-time as a women’s aid community officer and writer.
“I knew that I wanted to continue on to my master’s and after sorting through job offers, I decided that focusing on another degree would be best for me,” Fisher said. “I didn’t want to live in the U.S. and this program allows me to balance the women’s advocacy work I want to do, both in the U.S. and globally, while also unlocking a lot of doors that will allow me to travel.”
Fisher caught her travel bug while attending the University. After taking advantage of URI sponsored travel opportunities including alternative spring break, and the J-term faculty Cuba program, Fisher wanted a graduate program that would allow a nomadic lifestyle.
“While working on my dissertation and research projects with my master’s program, I’ll be bouncing between Providence, Brazil and Cuba,” explained Fisher. “I plan on continuing women/indigenous development work after I graduate and have already been recommended to a bunch of Ph.D. programs.”
Closer to home, graduate Garret Burgon is a brokerage operations employee at Fidelity Investments in Rhode Island. Burgon also graduated in 2018 from the college of arts and sciences and now holds degrees in political science and sociology.
“I got this job offer three months prior to graduation after a long application process throughout my senior year,” Burgon said. “Persistence and staying organized helped get me the job I wanted and helped focus and narrow down on jobs I was interested in.”
Burgon attributes a portion of his success to the mentorship he received from his professors.
“Several professors including David Prentiss, Edward Mezze [and] Helen Mederer were all big influences on my career path and what I was interested in post grad life,” Burgon said. He also has potential plans to return to URI as a guest lecturer for one of his old professors.
Alumnus James Cocozza decided to continue his post grad life at URI. After completing his bachelor of science in pharmaceutical sciences in May 2018, Cocozza returned to campus for his doctorate of pharmacy and remains working as a resident assistant.
“I realized research was not for me after doing five semesters of it,” Cocozza said. “I worked as a pharmacy technician at CVS, and realized working in a community pharmacy is more of what I want to do.”
During his undergraduate career, Cocozza was very involved across campus through Best Buddies, Student Senate and the department or residential life as an resident advisor. As a graduate student Cocozza has continued his cross campus involvement by serving as President of Community Leadership Board (CLB) and serving on the student conduct board.
For those with graduation on the horizon, or those still navigating their post grad path, “College is a life changing experience, you will have some positive days and you will have some negative days. At first, it might seem like you do not know what you are doing or what path to take, but eventually you will understand things and find your path,” Cocozza said. “No matter who you are or what career you are pursuing, you will one day create change in the world.”