Class of 2012 Fulfilling Their Dreams After Graduation

Quick Facts

Everett Johnson, a McNair Scholar and dance performance major, was selected as one of 15 $50,000 national winners of the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award for those with artistic or creative promise.

Matt Horn, a soccer player and a biology major and chemistry minor, was selected as one of 51 $5,000 national winners of the Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship.

From 1920-2000, six Winthrop chemistry graduates earned Ph.Ds. Since 2003, 14 chemistry graduates will have earned Ph.Ds. by the end of 2012.

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Many Winthrop University Class of 2012 graduates have reported to work or are preparing for graduate schools in the fall.

Everett Johnson, a McNair Scholar and dance performance major, was selected as one of 15 national winners of the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award for those with artistic or creative promise. Nearly 470 students applied for the award, which provides up to $50,000 annually for three years of graduate study.

Johnson will attend New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he will pursue a master’s degree in fine arts in choreography/performance.

Matt Horn, a soccer player and a biology major and chemistry minor, was selected as one of 51 $5,000 national winners of the Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship. He was chosen as the recipient of the Walter & Adelheid Hohenstein Endowed Fellowship, which is given to the best candidate within each of the five PKP regions. Horn will study medicine at the University of North Carolina Medical School.

Few students are able to excel in athletics, scholarship and service, as Horn managed to do, according to Jennifer Disney, director of Winthrop’s Office of Nationally Competitive Awards (ONCA), who assisted Horn and Johnson with their applications.

Winthrop instituted ONCA in 2006 to help its students compete with the best and brightest across the nation and the world. Since then, ONCA has assisted 90 students in applying for nationally competitive awards, 30 of whom have received recognition as finalists or winners of prestigious scholarships, including 15 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships to study abroad and the first Rhodes Scholar finalist in Winthrop's 125-year history.

Meanwhile in chemistry, the department continues to make huge strides. From 1920-2000, six Winthrop chemistry graduates earned Ph.Ds. Since 2003, 14 chemistry graduates will have earned Ph.Ds. by the end of 2012.

The 2012 chemistry class is particularly well-prepared for graduate work. Three seniors – Zach Curry, Becca Toor and Abigail Bradner – captured top awards in three different categories this spring with the Carolina-Piedmont Section of the American Chemical Society, a first for Winthrop.

Curry is now in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., where he is working summer rotations within the program and will start medical school classes in August. He earned a full scholarship for both degrees and a stipend. Toor, the volleyball captain, heads to Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine’s pharmacy school in Florida.

Other chemistry majors, Natalie Bremner and Ron Nelson, will seek their Ph.Ds. at Wake Forest University, Christine Harvey at Boston University, Jeff Myers at University of Virginia, Paisley Trantham at University of Maryland and Amber Wallance at Virginia Commonwealth.

Here is a sampling of other seniors from December or May graduations who are heading to graduate school or the workforce:

Molly Baker, computer science: engineer, Cyber Forensics division of SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic.

Tiffany Benjamin, M.B.A., accounting: process support specialist, Zenta/Accenture Credit Services, Charlotte, N.C.

Brandon Clopton, computer science: software engineer, Xpient Solutions, Charlotte, N.C.

Stephen Crawford, English and philosophy/religion: attending Charleston School of Law

Stephen Dickey, business administration: leasing representative for Boxer Properties, based out of Dallas, Texas, in charge of leasing retail space to prospective tenants for a few shopping malls around the region.

Laura Falendysz, digital design: web developer, IBM, East Lansing, Mich.

Jamie Glass, business administration: staff accountant, Flakeboard America Ltd.

Elizabeth Goodin, special education: teacher, Scranton Elementary School, Scranton, S.C.

Ryan Graczyk, computer science: associate software engineer developer, Fidelity Investments, Durham, N.C.

Ashley Grech, special education: special education teacher, Pageland Elementary School, Pageland, S.C.

Tristan Horan, business administration: buyer, Performance Friction, Clover, S.C.

Allison Howard, psychology: accepted to Oxford University in England to complete a Master’s of Science in evidence-based social intervention. She was a Rhodes Scholar candidate.

Theresa Horton, business administration: head of accounts receivable, Adams Services in Fort Mill, S.C., where she handles all the invoicing, billing, and purchase orders for the company.

Adam Hudson, business administration: recruiter in the professional services division, Aerotek, Charlotte, N.C.

Jonathan McFadden, mass communication: crime and public safety reporter and assistant online editor, The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald newspaper.

Tyler McNeill, business administration, finance: loan documentation specialist, Wells Fargo's home mortgage department, Fort Mill, S.C.

Kaitlyn Nardi, integrated marketing: marketing production assistant, Wild Dunes Resort, Isles of Palms, S.C.

Noel Rizzuti, integrated marketing: will pursue a strategic communications degree at Kansas State University. She received a graduate research assistantship position for a full scholarship for her degree program.

Kathryn Scott, psychology: recruiting analyst, Aon Hewitt, Charlotte, N.C.

Nichole Shelly, psychology: accepted into Teach for America program. She will be teaching middle school math in Cleveland, Ohio.

Alexandra Simon, modern languages: teacher at Knowledge Is Power Program, a charter in Galveston, Texas, where she will be a Teaching Fellow in the kindergarten classroom, with the hopes of becoming a middle school Spanish teacher the next year.

Arthur Takahashi, master’s in history: social media and production, WRDW News 12 in Augusta, Ga.

April Tucker, business administration: loan adjuster, Wells Fargo, Fort Mill, S.C.

Patrick F. Turney, M.B.A.: property manager, Walk2Campus Properties, Bowling Green, Ky., market at Western Kentucky University

Keith Walker, business administration: assistant national bank examiner, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Robert Wheeler, M.B.A, accounting: regional accountant, Compass Group, Charlotte, N.C.

Danitra Williams, sociology: manager trainee, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Rock Hill, S.C.

Curtis Wright, business administration: human resources assistant, Mecklenburg EMS Agency, Charlotte, N.C.

Ashley (Rye) Yauilla, digital information design: network analyst, Windstream Communications.

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