Economics major leads to success

Panelists on October 3 in the Farrell Room discussing career paths with a Saint Michael’s economics majors. Directly above, a full house of students and faculty. (photos by Ingrid Peterson)

Five Saint Michael’s College economics graduates returned to campus on October 3 — one via remote technology — for a panel presentation in the St. Edmund’s Hall Farrell Room sponsored by the Career Education Office. These accomplished alumni told a large and engaged crowd of 60 students and five faculty how they forged their “Life after College” paths to success.

The panelists were: Stephen Andersen ’17, associate portfolio manager at Citizens Bank; Emily Farnham-Haskell ’12, proposal design consultant at National Life Group; Dmitri Repnikov ’09 (via Zoom), lead analyst at Postmates; Jaqui Tuthill ’12, reporting analyst at Putnam Investments; and Marisa Wagner ’17, implementation manager at Vermont Information Processing.

“They walked through their path from Saint Michael’s to career success,” said Ingrid Peterson, director of the College’s Career Education Center, who paraphrased their wide range of advice for students, including: “Take advantage of the knowledge and expertise right here on campus from your professors, the Career Education Center, and skills gained in clubs and organizations, sports and more; be curious at work, leave your headphones out so you hear organic conversations that take place in the office and you can contribute.”

“The partnership between Career Education and the economics faculty is strong,” Peterson said, “and this second annual event reflects the value we have in our alumni.” She said economics faculty provided her “a list of alumni names who would be great to invite back to campus,” noting how some of the invitees had double majors with economics and another discipline.

“I looked through the list, selected five alumni to reach out to and those five alumni replied with an enthusiastic, ‘Yes!’ she said. “To have five people who make a commitment to return to campus for our current students and faculty is invaluable.”