Business graduate off to law school with fellowship

Justin Colletti ’16, who majored in business administration and history at Saint Michael’s College, is about to start law school at Temple University in September and recently received a competitive and prestigious Sigma Beta Delta Fellowship Award from that international honor society for business, management and administration.

The honor society that granted the award to Colletti was founded in 1986; the Saint Michael’s Chapter of Sigma Beta Delta was established in October 2003, and the first campus induction ceremony was held during spring 2004. Jessica Waterbury ’09 and Christopher Kopka ’10 are past Saint Michael’s awardees of the Sigma Beta Delta Fellowship, The awards are for $1,000 or $1,500.

Colletti is fast to credit Saint Michael’s College for his achievements. Recently he wrote this to Karen Popovich, associate professor and chair of business administration and accounting:

“As a recent graduate it is difficult to describe the impact studying at Saint Michael’s has had on my life, but let me reassure you that it has been boundless. I graduated with a double major in Business Administration and History and will be moving onto to study Law at the Temple University School of Law this fall.

“My time at Saint Michael’s spent with students and faculty alike was nothing short of amazing. I have had opportunities to participate in internships and work with professionals that I could have never met in any other environment. I owe my success and growth as a student and individual to the community at Saint Michael’s, to the faculty, staff and my peers that stood by me for my time there. To receive the Sigma Beta Delta Fellowship Award is not a testament to my achievement as a student but to the achievement of Saint Michael’s College and the community it has created,” Colletti wrote to his former professor.

Popovich stressed the high selectivity for the award, given that Sigma Beta Delta has 225 chapters in 45 states with 30,000 members. Inductees include both undergraduate and graduate students who rank in the top 20 percent of their respective classes at the time of invitation.