Interview with Kendy Oliver - Essay Example

Oliver says that the students are her biggest source of motivation. I get to work with them pretty extensively in the Student Academic Support Center and since I work at a small school, we all get to know each other, she explains. She goes ahead to describe the students as wonderful and she loves having even a small part in their academic success. Her greatest wish is to get more involved in advising as time goes on.For Oliver, working in the education sector has always been a lifelong dream; earlier on, her ambitions were on teaching elementary schools, but later she changed her career path into business.

Before coming to Rosemont, she was working at a proprietary school as a Financial Aid Counselor and fell in love with the education process there. Several things attracted Oliver to Rosemont College; first, it is a small school with a similar atmosphere to Chestnut Hill College, where she completed her undergraduate work. Second, she wanted to get out of proprietary education and focus on other traditional avenues of education. Once she arrived at Rosemont, she grew to enjoy the familial atmosphere and was very happy with her decision to work here.

Oliver grew up in Norristown, PA, about 15 minutes from Rosemont. Norristown is a place with a lot of potential and charm, but also many problems, she states. She continues to explain her love for the town because of all of the wonderful memories she had there while growing up, but moving forward, she would like to get more involved in measures to make her town better, such as bringing business back into town and improving the public education system. She attended Chestnut Hill College and graduated in 2012 with Bachelor's in Business Administration.

She admits to loving the experiences she had at Chestnut Hill College, stating that the curriculum was challenging, the resources available to the students were excellent, the students, staff, and administration were wonderful, and the campus is gorgeous.Reflecting back to her life, she reviews the various mentors she has had starting with her former teachers, going all the way back to middle school. For Oliver, teachers have a wonderful ability to motivate and encourage if they take their jobs seriously and the teachers she had were a great inspiration for her to finish college, pursue a career in education, and pursue her goals of opening a business someday.

Furthermore, she proudly agrees to have a professional mentor, her former employer at the last school she worked. She states that her mentor has given her many useful tools to get ahead in the workforce, helped her get through coursework when she was at Chestnut Hill and continues to give her insight and advice even though they do not work together anymore. My mentors fueled my passion for education both personally and professionally and I just want to pay forward the time and generosity they have shown me, she says.

Oliver also points out that she has had major life events that changed her course! One event, in particular, happened when I was 23 years old, she explains. I had been working for Commerce Bank for 3 years, and as they merged with TD Bank, they decided they no longer needed me as an employee, she sadly explains. She further states that it was devastating because not only it was her only source of income and she had a young child to provide for, but also because she had devoted so much time and energy to being the best possible employee, only to be let go because of downsizing.

Determined to prosper, that event motivated her pursuit of a business degree because she never wants to be in the position again where her livelihood depends on the whims of other people. The next phase of her life journey includes getting her MBA, which she is currently pursuing. She says that once that is complete, I would like to start a non-profit organization that helps young single mothers with financial literacy and counseling. Of course, I would like to remain in higher education as well she declares; a career in academic advising would be ideal.

She further looks at her stay at Rosemont as long as the term plan and believes that she could do the most good in this type of small setting.