MEDIA, Pa. — Penn State Brandywine hosted its "Roots to Routes" Black Student Union Alumni Networking Event on Feb. 17 as part of the campus’ Black History Month celebrations.
The event featured 12 alumni: Ashley Carrington, assistant controller at Impact Services; Chabreena Dixon-Corbin, outpatient therapist at Corbin Counseling LLC; Victor Ficarra, international tax attorney at Deloitte; Dax Frakes, project manager at Cigna; Michelle Haskins, agency owner at Choice Insurance Solutions LLC; Khalid Jordan, application support specialist at Duncan Solutions; Shawn Manderson, vice president of enterprise risk management at ADP Inc.; Shannon Matthews, community resource developer and Perkins coordinator at Delaware County Technical School; Kenneth Murphy, Center for Social Impact coordinator at Penn State Brandywine; Rafael Ramirez, vice president of human resources at Saint-Gobain; Bruce Ryan, chief photojournalist at NBC10/Telemundo62; and Chris Williams, install technician at Delaware Business Systems. Manderson, Ramirez and Ryan are also members of Penn State Brandywine’s Advisory Board.
Each spoke about their experiences after graduating from Penn State and provided students with college and career advice.
Regional Chancellor Marilyn J. Wells also gave opening remarks during "Roots to Routes," stating how she is proud of the students who made the effort to attend the event.
“Each day, I get to fill my joy jar by interacting with students, and I’ve gotten the chance to do that several times today, but I’m even more grateful to get to do it this evening,” she said.
“We really have a village here, and it takes a village to achieve our biggest aspirations in life. Each day when we wake up, we make a choice about our lives and how it affects others. We get to choose what kind of attitude we bring, whether we take advantage of opportunities and create opportunities to make our own lives better, and to make the lives of others better, today and tomorrow. All those in attendance did that today.”
Austin Duckett, director of student affairs, noted in his opening remarks how important it would be for students to network and learn new things during the event.
“There are such powerful meanings for the words 'roots' and 'routes.' This event is a powerful opportunity rooted in belonging, community and transformation. As you go through this program, meet someone, learn something new and take an internal charge to transform the spaces you’re in to be even better,” he said.
Tatiana Lewis, a third-year student and president of the Black Student Union, gave opening remarks at the event and spoke on the importance of students taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them.
“Many people tonight have talked about the word ‘opportunity.’ Opportunity is defined as a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. When my team and I were planning this event, we mentioned to students how important this opportunity could be for them,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s not about what you know; it’s about who you know. Who says we don’t need a little help sometimes? Networking is so valuable for success because you never know who can get you through doors or put you into rooms that may not have been built for you otherwise.”