Honors Alumni Share Their Flight Paths

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Commonwealth Honors College alumni met with current Honors students on Thursday, April 7 to share how they adapted to life post-graduation. Gathering on Zoom, CHC graduates from the Class of 2021 offered attendees personal and heartfelt advice as many students prepare to take flight from the University of Massachusetts.

“Taking Flight is an exciting new partnership between the Honors College and our alums that provides perspective and guidance to Honors seniors as they approach graduation,” explained Associate Dean of Student Recruitment, Inclusion, and Success Ann Marie Russell. “The event is intended to offer a conversational space focused on helping… our upcoming graduates feel encouraged about the transition ahead.”

Russell invited the alumni to introduce themselves, asking each graduate to explain what they have been up to since leaving UMass.

Darshana Blaise was a biology major and psychology minor now studying at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. Blaise explained how she took advantage of resources at UMass to prepare for this next step in her academic journey.

“I knew that I wanted to go to medical school, and I was hoping and planning to do so without taking a gap year,” Blaise said. “With that goal in mind, I took advantage of Pre-Med Advising and Career Advising at UMass.”

“I also took advantage of mentorship and finding mentors who supported me not just throughout college, but mentors who I'm still in touch with today,” added Blaise, who went on to explain some of the challenges she faces in med school.

“I've definitely had to adjust not only to classes and being in medical school to but also moving out of state and being more independent and adaptive,” Blaise said. She explained that she takes advantage of her time after class to virtually connect with friends and family from home, also developing a new support system at school in Michigan.

Next up, Ryan Duggan explained how he transitioned his degree in natural resources conservation to his current job as a Massachusetts Park Ranger.

“My first couple of weeks there, I was pulling weeds and weed whacking and [thought], ‘I don't know if I made the right decision,’” Duggan said. “By the end of the summer I loved it so stinking much that I applied and became a part-time employee, so now I get to work at the park year-round.”

Duggan explained how adjusting from his busy schedule as a student to the responsibility of a part-time job required him to slow down.

“I was really involved when I was at UMass, doing a lot of clubs,” Duggan said. “Fortunately, I found another part time job as a math tutor. So now I'm a part-time park ranger, part-time math tutor.”

“It's a nice amount of being able to have a nice structured schedule for the week,” Duggan said. “Doing things that I enjoy, working with the environment, doing some education stuff, and really just embracing that I don't need to have a full-time job right now.”

Former biology major Shannon Silva described her transition from graduating to working at a Boston biotech company to doing lab work as a PhD student at Yale.

“The lab that I did join, we study lung cancer, and how it can gain resistance,” Silva said. “It's kind of this really cool in between just because it isn't academia but because I'm interested in biotech and drug discovery, they have partnerships with AstraZeneca so we can test their drugs in our animal models and then add new uses to the drugs.”

Finally, Parker Sweet explained how he leveraged his work as a public health major and student contact tracing Operations Manager into finishing his accelerated masters program and starting public health consulting.

“Last semester, I actually got to teach my own seminar on contact tracing, leadership and management, which was very fun,” Sweet said. “I think I've gotten plenty out of UMass, but I want to focus on building equity elsewhere and building value elsewhere.”

“The project I'm working on right now, I am helping to transition an organization from a volunteer model to a paid model.”

Biology and public health major Mia Crockett thanked the panelists for sharing their experiences and asked if any of their fears before graduation ended up as a non-issue.

“I felt very connected to a lot of places and a lot of people and didn’t really want to just give up that social aspect of being at UMass,” Duggan answered. 

“I have come to realize I still talk to all of my friends. Maybe not the same way if you're living in the same building or can just take a 10 minute walk and meet them, but it's still pretty easy to keep in touch.”

“You can still do a lot of things that you want to do outside of whatever your job is or whatever you hope to do after graduation,” Blaise added. “I would advise being slow in packing on additional things to make sure that you can still dedicate as much of yourself as you want to to the things that you're getting involved with.”

As the panel came to an end, Director of Development & External Relations Meredith Feltus encouraged students to join the campus-specific platform Connect UMass to continue developing relationships with fellow UMass alumni.

“If you think you want to move to a certain part of the country and find alums who are there and might be able to give you advice, or you're interested in entering a particular discipline… you could find people who are willing to and able to talk to you there,” Feltus explained.

Blaise reaffirmed the importance of developing a sense of community, both professionally and personally.

“With whatever job interests you have, having a group of people there who are really going to support you when times are tough, who are going to give you that extra joy in your life, makes a huge difference,” Blaise said.

Sweet also encouraged students to turn inwards and reflect on the experiences that propelled them to graduation.

“A lot of your efforts and service lines are focused outward right now because you're focusing on creating an exit plan, finding your value,” Sweet explained. “There's a person who drives all of that, and the one tool that you should try to exercise is self-reflection.

“That same resilience which has propelled you through being a senior is still relevant down [the] line.”