2017 Portfolio Contest Winners

Pictured from left to right: Morgan Lancaster (second place), Kenneth Thomas (first place undergraduate), Kayla Ellison (third place tie), Argentine Charles (first place graduate) and Speedway Regional Recruiter, Edward Noble. Not Pictured: Valery Nguemaha (third place tie).

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2017 FIRST PLACE UNDERGRADUATE – KENNETH THOMAS

Kenneth is a senior graduating this Spring with dual degrees in Risk Management & Insurance and Business Management. After graduation, he plans to pursue a Master’s in Data Analytics. He hopes to use his academic background to secure a job in the insurance industry as a business analyst, in which he will analyze “big data” and recommend actionable business solutions. Kenneth says that the Career Portfolio helped him to reflect on his undergraduate experiences and realize that his strengths lie in his leadership, teamwork, and critical thinking abilities. He believes that the Career Portfolio can help other students understand their strengths as well as provide them with a platform to articulate the professional experiences that make them unique.

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2017 FIRST PLACE GRADUATE – ARGENTINA CHARLES

Argentina Charles is a second year Master in Public Health candidate with hopes of combining both her character and knowledge to help community hospitals and become a Hospital Administrator. Her goal as a hospital administrator is to improve the quality and performance of health care programs while targeting critical healthcare problems such as high costs of care, inequalities in access, and malpractice. Throughout her time at Florida State University, she has focused on positively influencing as many individuals as possible, heightening her leadership skills, expanding her knowledge, opening her mind to new experiences, and exercising her fortes through her internship at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare in the Project Management Department. Her internship enabled her to gain a further understanding on the healthcare system by submerging her into the field through shadowing, project development, and administrative logistics. This experience has taught her how to delegate administrative tasks, improved her research skills, and enriched her communication skills through meetings and scheduled undertakings with hospital executives. The Career Portfolio allowed her to summarize her hard work and passion throughout her college career, and made her realize how much she has grown with every experience. It helped her recognize how beneficial her involvement has been and how paramount they will be in her future career and endeavors. Therefore, creating her Career Portfolio organized her experiences and merged her leadership roles, qualifications, and goals with her strong work ethic and ambition.

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2017 SECOND PLACE – MORGAN LANCASTER

Morgan is a second year student in the Marriage and Family Therapy Doctoral Program within the Department of Family and Child Sciences. Morgan received her master’s degree from East Carolina University in Marriage and Family Therapy and is now a registered marriage and family therapist intern in Florida. Morgan’s program of research involves aspects of family violence and how members are able to remain resilient to adverse outcomes. She is also a therapist at the Center for Couple and Family Therapy on Florida State’s campus. She enjoys being a therapist and conducting research but is most passionate about mentoring beginning therapists and younger students. Her Career Portfolio helped her to reflect on her past experiences and how they have shaped her future goals, as well as allowed her to consider areas for growth.

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2017 THIRD PLACE (TIE) – KAYLA ELLISON

Kayla is a senior majoring in Retail Merchandising and Product Development. She thoroughly enjoys her studies and has already accomplished working in the industry at an executive level as both an intern and an employee. Her career goals include, moving to a big city, working in product development or visual merchandising, traveling to obtain professional inspiration, and eventually earning a "director" title. Another goal of hers is to give back and teach using her knowledge and experiences from being in the industry as a reference. She believes the Career Portfolio helped her stand out and be marketable to recruiters during her job application process. She believes it is a unique platform that allows her work, goals, and experiences to be accessible to her professors and potential employers. She loves how the Career Portfolio allows her to showcase herself in an organized and professional manner. She believes it is a wonderful tool that all students should take advantage of.

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2017 THIRD PLACE (TIE) – VALERY MARCEL NGUEMAHA

Valery Marcel is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Physics. He is passionate about interdisciplinary science and is currently using physics methods to study protein molecules in an effort to understand how the human body functions. He is also developing a computer program to monitor top killer diseases around the world. Interacting with biologists and other scientists across disciplines has helped him realize his interest in public health and he intends in the future to work as a technical consultant for a public health organization. The Career Portfolio contest helped him discover his hidden potentials and boosted his confidence to the point that he now believes he is ready for any job interview with any employer.

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