For some students, Fall 2004 marks their final semester at Florida A&M University.
They have waited for four, five and even six years to graduate, but they don’t care because it is finally here. The excitement is racing through their bodies.
The graduates’ parents and friends fill the city with love and business (money) to local hotels and restaurants. They also ask questions like “Do you have a job?” or “What is next for you?”
Most graduating seniors are encouraged to attend graduate school and during the present semester graduate feeder programs have added insight to many of their future goals.
The School of Graduate Studies and Research has a graduate feeder program that caters to students that want to attend out of state graduate schools, such as, Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, American University in Washington DC, and Auburn University in Auburn, Ala.
Graduating senior Natasha S. Floyd, 23, is a health care management student from Miami who will graduate on Dec. 10.”I plan on looking for a job and pursuing a graduate degree at a later date,” Floyd said.
She has decided to move back home to Miami. “I plan on applying with Mount Sinai Hospital and the famous Jackson Memorial Hospital.” Floyd said. She is interested in pursuing a practice in quality and risk management.
Floyd has been a student since the fall of 2000 and she started studying health care her sophomore year, originally she started in FAMU’s Education Program.
Crystal Connally, 23, is a fifth year MBA candidate from Denver. She started off in FAMU’S School of Business and Industry in the fall of 1999. She was inducted into the ranks of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in the fall of 2001 and she feels that her sorority has made her a well-rounded woman.
“I will be working in Cincinnati with Proctor & Gamble as a Marketing Purchasing Manager,” Connally said.
James McGollie, 24,is a graduating broadcast journalism student from Tallahassee. “I am going to Miami for a week,” McGollie said. He feels a well-deserved vacation is in order. McGollie said,”I want to hit the clubs, party and see a lot of my family.”
McGollie plans on staying in Tallahassee and applying at Channel 6 WCTV as a videographer.
“I started off as a pre-medical student in the fall of 1999,” he said.
He later stated that journalism seemed to be more enlightening than his practice in studying medicine.
“The “J-School”(School of Journalism & Graphic Communication) has prepared me for a field in sports broadcast news.”
Michelle Jones, 22,is a broadcast journalism student from Atlanta.
She will receive her bachelor’s degree from the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication this fall. “Initially I plan to go home, but I have been offered a position in Miami as an assistant buyer at Macys, but as of right now I have not made a decision to accept or decline the offer,” Jones said. Jones is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. “Delta has prepared me to be multi-tasked and it has promoted a higher level of sisterhood in me. The sorority has helped me to accept and love working with all sorts of people,” Jones said.
She started off in SBI, but after her freshman year she decided to switch her field of study to broadcast journalism.
“I want to be a reporter eventually and maybe I will become the next Diane Sawyer,” Jones ended.
Contact Anthony S. Ray Jr. at aj4_21@hotmail.com