/Now What?
graduation hat

Now What?

Life for about 1,000 students who are graduating in May is about the change

By Maria Pericozzi

Julie Loney and Alex Masterson, both seniors at SUNY Oswego, graduated a semester early — last December.
Julie Loney and Alex Masterson, both seniors at SUNY Oswego, graduated a semester early — last December.

Graduation is a scary time for senior students. Some may be graduating a semester late, a semester early or right on time.

Cassidy Chainyk, a senior graduating in May, is sad that she is graduating, but is also nervous and scared of the future.

“Oswego has broadened my horizons and showed me how much different life is and can be,” Chainyk said. “It showed me how much else is outside of my town I grew up in.”

Chainyk is spending the spring semester student teaching, preparing herself for the real world. She said she is excited to graduate.

Around 400 undergraduate students graduated in December, according to Shelly St. John, the associate registrar. For the upcoming spring graduation, she said they don’t have an exact number yet, but usually around 1,000-1,100 undergraduate students are eligible to graduate.

Julie Loney and Alex Masterson, both seniors at SUNY Oswego, graduated a semester early — last December.

Loney is a journalism and Spanish major, and is planning to take the GRE exam to open up her options of maybe going to graduate school for Spanish education. Loney’s family lives in Long Island, so she is planning to apply to schools in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.

School at Oswego has helped Loney realize what she wants to do for her career.

“I took one major, then added another one very quickly because I wasn’t going to have enough credit,” Loney said. “Then I had an internship in the summer, came back and ended up studying abroad and fell in love with that.”

Loney spent a semester studying in Costa Rica, perfecting her Spanish speaking skills.

“If I didn’t have Oswego, I wouldn’t be able to do all these things to make me realize what I want to do with my future,” Loney said.

In the future, Loney would like to become a foreign language department head in an elementary or middle school. Before that, she would like to teach and create curriculum.

“I want to start in a middle school, find a good school district, go and make curriculum for third, fourth and fifth grades, and eventually become a head of foreign language for a school district or a school.”

Masterson is a business major and he is hoping to get into the sports world and work in the front office of an organization. Masterson is in the process of applying for jobs on Long Island and is looking to potentially go to grad school to get his MBA in the fall.

So far, he has had an internship with Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Oswego, so he is applying for a part-time position there, and is also applying for a co-op position with TJX through SUNY Oswego.

Masterson said Oswego has helped him prepare for graduation over the last four years.

“Oswego has taught me a lot about professionalism, public speaking and organizational skills that will translate into the work environment,” Masterson said.

Loney said she is excited to graduate and is more nervous about finding housing when she’s older than she is about finding a job when she gets out of college.

As for graduating, Masterson said he feels scared but also excited.

“It’s scary and exciting at the same time,” Masterson said. “I’m excited to get life started, but upset that my time at Oswego is coming to an end.”

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