Many Wofford graduates choose to immediately enter graduate school or accept a job after graduation. Often these positions are jobs in medicine, finance, consulting, banking or business. Some Wofford students, however, take their liberal arts degree and seek out opportunities off the beaten path – whether as short term pit stops before mak- ing the next big career move, or as steps toward long-term goals.

These soon to be alumni will be taking their talents all across the globe in a variety of jobs, graduate schools, and other exciting adventures. A few seniors shared their plans after they leave the comfort of Wofford with the Old Gold & Black, and it will come as no surprise that these Terriers are making the best of their liberal arts education.

A dude ranch and robots

Samantha Hemleben, math major with a compu-tational science emphasis

“After I graduate I will fly out to Denver to work on Tarryall River Ranch. I will work there all summer long just helping around with different positions from waitressing to being a fly fishing and hiking guide. Then on Oct. 1, I will be attending Oregon State University to begin working for my Ph.D. in robotics. I will spend the first year in determining my adviser and my research. Right now I am most interested in multi agent systems and machine learning. Hopefully, I will work for Spacex or Google someday. I can’t wait to take a weekend trip to the moon!”

Off to Tanzania

Mack Boyd, business economics major

“I’m going to be in Babati, Tanzania, working as a business coordinator for a non-profit called Village Inc. that is working to offer subprime loans to entrepreneurs so they can help start their companies. All the profits are then used to help some social need in the community. My job will be to help entrepreneurs run their companies well so we get our loan back, as well as helping communities figure out how to use their profits best.”

Sorority means for a lifetime

Ashlee Moody, English and Spanish double major

“I will be working as an Educational Leadership Consultant for Kappa Alpha Theta. I haven’t been notified of my specific placement yet, but essentially I will be either based at a university with a newer Theta chapter as second-year support, traveling around the U.S. and Canada making visits to chapters, or a combination of both. I am very excited about this opportunity to give back to an organization that has provided me with so much over the past four years! I am thankful for the relationships I’ve formed through Theta thus far, and I’m looking forward to building more relationships through Theta all across North America.”

Moondancing in Costa Rica

Charlie Geddes, Spanish and business economics double major

“In August I’ll start work with Georgia-Pacific doing corporate accounting in Atlanta, but this summer I’m leading a Moondance trip in Costa Rica for 9th through 11th graders. Moondance is an outdoor adventure program, and the Costa Rica trip has a pretty big service element to it. I did a Moondance trip in Wyoming when I was in high school. The trip had a profound impact on me, both on my appreciation for the outdoors and on my general outlook on life. My leaders were great, and I told myself that I would love to lead a trip when I was older with the hopes of having a similar impact on a group of kids.”

Accountant Au pair

Brock Strickland, accounting major

“After graduation, I’ll be moving to Livorno, Italy, for the summer, to work as an au pair for a family with three little boys, ages two, five and eight. Essentially, I’ll be a full-time babysitter and help the mother around the house as needed, all while getting a neat cultural exchange of my own. I had such a great experience during my semester abroad, I knew I wanted another adventure like that before I settled into the real world, and the summer after graduation seemed like the perfect opportunity. I’ll return to the states mid-August and my professional plans for when I get back are still in the works. I’m waiting to hear back from graduate programs for a Master’s in Accountancy, but I’m also in the process of interviewing for a couple of different jobs. I’m not positive what I’ll do for sure yet – I’m the poster child for keeping all options open, and I’m excited to see what works out!”