After completing their four years at Bucknell, students are given a diploma that symbolizes the culminating liberal arts education they received while here. This one-of-a-kind Bucknell experience translates into endless postgraduate possibilities for graduating seniors— from attending graduate school, to entering the marketing industry, to becoming engineers.
For Tessa Brizhik ’26, who is a double major in Psychology and Linguistics and a double minor in Russian and Theatre, her next chapter will continue in the classroom. “I will be attending Boston University this fall for my Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology! I will also be a research intern in BU’s Center for Brain Recovery throughout my degree completion. Academically, I have always been drawn to several pathways, and it took me a long time to find the right degree and career that would allow me to continue all of those pathways in a streamlined way. I am most excited to move to a city and begin the next chapter of my life! The clinical externships that are a part of the MS-SLP program are also very exciting!”
Meanwhile, Ryan Firko ’26, a Mechanical Engineering major, will be taking a pause from Pennsylvania to further his engineering experience in the Midwest. “I will be moving to Kansas to work for Kiewit in their Industrial and Water sector as a Mechanical Engineer. I chose it because it was a good job offer. Right now the market overall is not the best for engineers, so getting this position was a good thing and it was the right choice to take it. I’m excited to be going to a new area I haven’t ever really been to. I am also looking forward to having more time outside of work that is not being taken up by homework to make headway on some of the projects I want to work on.”
Katie Schaefer ’26, an English major with a double minor in Economics and Italian Studies, looks to a future that intertwines the healthcare industry with marketing. “After graduation, I will be working at Haymarket Media, where I will collaborate with the rest of the Marketing team to put together promotional emails and content within the healthcare and pharmaceuticals space. I will work closely in audience segmentation, which targets the best potential recipients for each specific campaign. I chose this path after interning at Haymarket for the past two summers.”
She specifically notes how her internships helped formulate her career decision. “I honestly did not have a large grasp of what I wanted to do going into college. Starting out as a Humanities major and then quickly switching over to English, I had a lot of different ideas of which path I wanted to end up in without much direction. I was looking overall for careers in marketing and communications, but did not have any particular drive for the healthcare space. After working in it for the past two summers, I loved how fulfilling it felt to contribute work towards something that was ultimately going to help people. Even if I’m not working as a doctor, contributing one way or another to the healthcare space felt like a really positive, impactful choice. I’m most excited to learn even more about this industry and grow in my profession. I still have so much more to learn, and can’t wait to dive deeper into this space. While interning exposed me to so many different areas of the company, I’m excited to see how that will translate now that I’m a full-time employee.”
Beyond discussing their personal endeavors, these students provided insight into how their Bucknell experience in particular helped support them in obtaining successful futures. Brizhik stated, “As a Presidential Fellow, participating in research has always been critical to my education pursuits. Having the opportunity to participate in research in two labs in the Psychology Department has helped me hone transferable skills that I will continue to use in my future research work at BU. My Bucknell education has been so special, because I have had the opportunity to take some neuroscience-related courses. I can’t help but also acknowledge and be thankful for the theatre opportunities I have had while at Bucknell. I will be forever grateful for everything!”
Firko also referenced his research lab experience while at Bucknell. “I feel that Bucknell has given me a lot of opportunities that other places wouldn’t have been able to give. One of the things that I mentioned in the interview for this position was the fact that I built my own mountain bike, and the people interviewing me seemed to really find that aspect interesting. Because of this, they then watched the video I made and I’ve talked about it more after the fact with them. I like to think that they saw the project I did and how it was purely a passion project that I was able to complete with Bucknell’s resources (the Nifty Idea Fund and the Project Development Lab) and it showed the drive I had, and it is a big reason on why I was sent an offer.”
For Schaefer, Bucknell’s networking opportunities were key to obtaining her job. “Throughout the fall and spring of my senior year, I felt greatly supported by Bucknell alumni looking to help out fellow Bucknellians. So many people I reached out to on LinkedIn were responsive and genuinely wanted to help me throughout the application process. I’m so grateful to have networked with so many amazing people, and see the various career paths everyone has taken after graduating from Bucknell.”
Together, these students’ postgraduate plans highlight how a Bucknell education equipped them with the skills and the confidence to pursue diverse paths after graduation. Whether continuing in academia, entering the workforce or somewhere in-between, Bucknell graduates leave prepared to grow, explore and make an impact, carrying with them the knowledge, experiences and connections that the university has to offer.
