Southeast students share future plans after graduation

As graduation nears, students begin to fear what they are going to do once they receive their diploma. However, as time progresses an idea tends to take shape, and students begin to scatter across the world. For Southeast Missouri State University students Amanda Hente, Sarah Uptmor and Katelyn Glenn this was precisely the case. All three women changed their paths throughout school but it has ultimately led them to where they want to be. Winter commencement will be held at 2 p.m, on Dec. 21 in the Show Me Center. Hente, Uptmor and Glenn will be among 740 students who graduate this fall.

Amanda Hente and her mother Paula McCormack. Submitted Photo

Amanda Hente: Graduate Student

Hente transferred to Southeast in the fall of 2011. After a year at the University of Missouri she decided coming back to her hometown in Cape Girardeau was what she needed. Hente plans to continue studying to get her master's in social work at Saint Louis University. Hente transferred to Southeast to be closer to home. She lives off campus with her boyfriend, works two jobs in addition to school, and will graduate with a degree in psychology and a minor in social work.

"I like the small classes," Hente said. "Compared to Mizzou that was one of the things that I really liked. Then I also got a closer relationship with my professors."

While at Southeast, Hente really enjoyed her time at her internship. She interned last summer at the Family Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau and hopes to work with at the Cottonwood Residential Treatment Center with underprivileged children before beginning school again in the fall.

"I really liked it there [at the Family Counseling Center,] they do substance abuse and rehabilitation ... [I liked that] they let the client take the lead and speak together, you know with the clients there," Hente said. "I thought that was neat because they weren't just sitting in classes all day listening to the counselors talk, they actually got to engage themselves in it and learn their own skills."

Amanda Hente and her mother Paula McCormack. Submitted Photo

Hente plans on focus on adolescent behaviors while at Saint Louis University, where she will get to work with children, their families and the community.

Hente hopes to open up more career opportunities in the future by getting her master's in social work.

At winter commencement Hente will be the first person in her family to graduate college, however, what makes this experience even more memorable is that her mother will be walking across the stage with her.

Paula McCormack will graduate with her daughter with a major in general studies and a minor in literature, which she earned over the past four and a half years. McCormack will continue studying at Southeast to get her master's in literature and maybe one day become a professor at Southeast.

Hente said she is excited to walk across the stage to receive her diploma with her mother.

"She called [the graduate assistanceship office,] I didn't even know she did it," Hente said. "I guess she was filling out her application or something, but she decided to call and ask and they were like, 'Yeah, that's a great idea,' ... and she asked me and I said 'Yeah, that sounds fine to me, that sounds neat,' because that doesn't always happen in the same semester, it just kind of worked out like that."

Hente said her mother was one of her biggest supporters while in school. They took a lot of the same classes and were able to help each other frequently with course work, which Hente appreciated. She says that her mother is going to miss her next year, but she believes they will stay close.

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Sarah Uptmor and associate head coach of soccer team Paul Nelson. Submitted Photo

Sarah Uptmor: Marine Biologist

This December will be the second time Uptmor's name is called at a graduation ceremony. Uptmor graduated during the summer with her degree in biology with a marine option. However, Uptmor's confusion with her second degree in Spanish caused her to have to enroll at Southeast for another semester, although her course work was completed.

"I didn't get credit [for a Spanish class] during the spring semester for my portfolio because I hadn't signed up," Uptmor said. "I didn't realize you actually had to sign up for it, I thought you just went and turned it in and it was the same, so I signed up to take that credit this semester, but I didn't have to do anything because I had already finished it, so it's just a technicality that I am graduating in December."

Since September Uptmor has worked as an apprentice aquarist with the sea trek division at the Miami Seaquarium in Florida.

"I work five days a week, eight-hour days, 40 hours a week, and I mean it's pretty fun," Uptmor said. "I pretty much just dive all day, make people's day, take pictures, feed the animals. I like living 20 minutes away from the beach, on most of my days off when its not raining I go to the beach almost every week."

She assists in the care and well-being of more than 2,000 sea animals.

Uptmor said she enjoys living in Miami and plans to stay there while she works on her graduate degree, but what she really would like to do is work in the Caribbean.

"I've applied for some jobs in the Bahamas, but they're all part-time or temporary positions and I needed something that I actually could make money on while I paid back some of my student debt and stuff," Uptmor said. "I actually want to -- in the long run I want to continue education and eventually get my Ph.D. degree and do research. So this is kind of an interim job for me to get more experience with animal care and makes me more marketable when I go to apply for an assistantship."

Sarah Uptmor (right) and her mother Cindy Bleichroth. Submitted Photo

When Uptmor transferred to Southeast in the spring of 2011 she thought staying in her hometown would only be a short transition till she transferred somewhere else. But after interacting with the soccer coaches she decided to change her mind.

"I was just going to transfer back to SEMO for a semester while I looked for something else," Uptmor said. "But when I was here the coaches here actually gave me a probationary period to practice with the team in the spring and I loved it, so I actually just ended up staying and I am so glad that I did. Playing for SEMO was one of the best parts of my college career experience."

Uptmor played for two full seasons with the Redhawks as a center midfielder and was captain of the team her senior year at Southeast. This was also the year that teammate Meg Herndon died.

"It was definitely something that defined me as a person when we lost Meg Herndon on the team. I mean it was the first time I had ever lost someone close to me, but the way the team handled it -- we came together as a family to overcome that. I mean it still amazes me to think about it to this day," Uptmor said.

She also credits being a part of the soccer team as her favorite experience at Southeast.

"It was probably the thing that impacted my experience the most because anywhere else I would still be getting the education, but the team was really my family. ... They were who I spent pretty much all of my time with," Uptmor said.

Uptmor also thanks her adviser Dr. Michael Taylor and one of her Spanish professor's Dr. Debra Lee-DiStefano for making her Southeast experience memorable.

"Dr. Taylor was always very encouraging and like anytime I wanted to talk about anything that interested me, it was hard for me to just drop in and talk to him because we would always end up talking for like two hours about everything and anything," Uptmor said. "So, he really encouraged me to keep with marine biology and I loved his classes. ... Dr. Lee in the Spanish department she helped me a lot too, encouraging me to double major because I wasn't sure if I could balance it with soccer and with my first major, and I had a lot of cool experiences with her. I went to Costa Rica with her and then in the end of my Spanish degree I spent a month in Barcelona. If she hadn't encouraged me to double major that entire part of my SEMO career wouldn't have existed probably."

Uptmor visited Costa Rica for 10 days in December of 2011. She received a foreign language credit by communicating with locals and keeping a daily journal.

"[It was difficult] because in Spanish different Spanish cultures have different words that mean different things, but it's still really interesting, mostly it was good because it was a lot of on our own work. It was a lot of being thrown into it and just finding a way to talk to people."

Uptmor traveled to Barcelona for a month last June, where she took two classes through the University of Jacksonville Fla., which then transferred to Southeast. She took a Spanish language class and a class called "Sports in Society in Spain, " which was about how different sports in Spain were connected to politics and way their society was shaped.

While in Barcelona, Uptmor was visited Camp Nou, the FC football stadium in Catalonia, Barcelona, as well as a traditional bullfighting ring and Mt. Montserrat, a mountain with a town located near its peak.

"It was unbelievable, and it was a lot packed into one month, but it was awesome. I didn't do much sleeping while I was there," Uptmor said.

Uptmor has no immediate plans to return to the Cape Girardeau area. She hopes to take her Graduate Records Examination in the spring and apply to schools in Miami to begin work on her doctorate.

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Katelyn Glenn (middle), president of Gamma Sigma Sigma from Fall 2012 - Spring 2013 posing with the executive board. Submitted Photo

Katelyn Glenn: Missionary

Glenn is from Belleville, Ill., and said she fell in love with Southeast the first time she came to visit.

"It was one of my top choices," Glenn said. "I think I just really liked the atmosphere that I saw when I came here at first because it had something that I feel like other schools don't have. It's just welcoming, and its big enough that you feel like 'Oh, there's so many people here' but small enough that people know your name who don't necessarily know you."

Glenn is majoring in psychology with a minor in autism studies. Glenn was active in her sorority Gamma Sigma Sigma and was the president of the Homecoming Planning Committee this fall. She has served as the Gamma Sigma Sigma treasurer, president and now membership treasurer.

Glenn said her favorite part of her time at Southeast was serving as president of the Homecoming Planning Committee.

"I got to plan homecoming for the whole school, and getting to see all the spirit that our school has and getting to reach out to students that I never thought I would get to talk to was a really great opportunity," Glenn said. "Also getting to be a part of something that is so much bigger than yourself and being in a service sorority. I got to do a lot of that, helping the community and seeing how Southeast gives back to the community all the time."

Katelyn Glenn outside Catholic Campus Ministry. Submitted Photo

One of Glenn's most prominent contributions to Southeast was made when she served as treasurer of her sorority. She started an autism awareness fundraiser and members of the group sold bracelets and raised more than $500 for the Autism Center in Cape Girardeau. Women of Gamma Sigma Sigma were also allowed to throw a Halloween party with the kids at the center. Glenn said her fundraiser has become an annual event.

After graduating in December Glenn will be a full-time Catholic missionary with FOCUS, which stands for Fellowship of Catholic University Students.

"What that is is I'm not like a missionary in a third world country, I'm actually a missionary here in the United States and my job -- we're on 84 different college campuses across the United States, regular and private universities-- so my job is to just invite college students into a growing relationship with Jesus. And I get to spend the next three years doing that," Glenn said.

Her job begins when FOCUS assigns her a location anywhere in the United States. Glenn will know her assignment before December 15.

"My salary comes from my mission partners, so I basically raise my entire salary through people who are interested in supporting me and my mission of teaching college students about Jesus and how to have a relationship with him so that's a lot of work, but it's awesome work," Glenn said.

Glenn realized being a missionary was what she wanted to do after joining the Catholic church two years ago.

"There are FOCUS missionaries here on our campus," Glenn said. "And I got involved in one of their Bible studies and I just really liked it, it took over my heart and I applied for staff last year and was hired. "

Glenn always has known that she wanted to help people. Since she was in kindergarten she had the idea that she wanted to be a doctor. Over time she realized the medical field was not for her, but she still wanted to make a difference.

"I also realized that college students struggle with a lot of things. I was one of them, freshman year was the hardest year of my life. Just getting caught up in the typical college scene, but, once I began to realize that there was so much more to college than that typical party scene then I knew I had to share that with other students. That's just why I felt really called to this job and just for them to see how much their worth. They're worth a lot more than how some of us spend our Friday nights," Glenn said.

Glenn attributes her success at Southeast to the adviser of Gamma Sigma Sigma, Johanna Shaver.

"Johanna Shaver is probably just one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met in my life. The woman knows everything, which is phenomenal and she'll differ otherwise, but Johanna has always just been a really strong supporter in letting me use my creativity and try different things within my sorority. Or, if things are hard she's always there to give suggestions and just a good ear to lean on. And she's so happy, her joy rubs off on other people and it's wonderful to be around," Glenn said.

Glenn also said her parents are also important in her life.

"I have two of the best parents in the entire world. My parents aren't Catholic, but they support me in everything I have ever done my entire life and they have always been my number one supporters and it's super encouraging," Glenn said. "They are so excited for graduation and neither one of my parents graduated from college so I am a first generation graduate, so they're super stoked."