Purdue Fort Wayne’s 2023 Commencement highlights the big payoff for grads
By Blake Sebring
May 4, 2023
In addition to some clear social benefits, students dive into higher education looking to build future opportunity and set up the next phase of their lives. More than 850 of the 1,408 Purdue University Fort Wayne students who have already received, or are on track to receive, a degree this academic year will celebrate the conclusion of their studies Wednesday during the 2023 Commencement at Memorial Coliseum. They’re expected to be joined by approximately 8,000 guests.
On top of the normal pomp and circumstance, festivities will include an alumni after-party in Expo III and the first-ever Chancellor’s New Alumni Dinner in Expo II. Everything is set to kick off at 4 p.m.
Then PFW graduates will spread across the city, the country, and even the world to launch their careers. The examples are plentiful and include marketing major Abby Gehlhausen who will work at Sweetwater, accounting and finance major Kameron Bradtke at FORVIS, and international student Souvik Mazumder who is already working as a software developer at Walmart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Many students representing all six of PFW’s colleges and schools are also sharing how the university helped them prepare for the future. Here are just a few of their stories.
Alexander V. Ferrer
College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science
An electrical engineering technology major, Ferrer will start on Monday working with automated machinery at Dial X Automated Equipment.
“I feel like PFW has had a very good impact on my career and where I’m standing right now due to my advisors and teachers always being there, always looking out for me, and reaching out to me,” Ferrer said. “Because of them, I have a very good knowledge of where I should be in my career."
While other universities may have been higher on his list at first, things changed for Ferrer after getting accepted to PFW and arriving on campus.
“Once I was here, I knew this was the school for me because of the professors,” Ferrer said. “They get to know you and go above and beyond to meet your expectations and help you meet your goals so you can do what you want in your career.”
Julia Green
Doermer School of Business
After transferring to PFW as a sophomore, Green tried actuarial sciences before deciding to major in accounting.
“My junior and senior years here have been extremely rigorous, but I have had amazing professors to help lead me through these classes,” Green said. “I went from flunking my first intermediate accounting exam to then scoring one of the best in class the following exams. There was a major learning curve going from the entry-level coursework to the intermediate level, but it challenged me to grow in ways unimaginable.”
Green’s professors awarded her as the Financial Executives International Outstanding Student this academic year. She’s going to work at Katz Sapper Miller as an associate tax accountant.
“Without the passion from my professors, I think my ambition in accounting would have been very limited,” Green said. “They have pushed me to grow in my studies and develop a real zeal for the material.”
Ali McGraw
College of Visual and Performing Arts
After growing up in New Haven, McGraw majored in interior design. She’s also working at KDA Furniture and Interiors as an interior designer after interning with the company.
“I think the biggest benefit to attending PFW was it allowed me to stay close to home, and that allowed me to find an internship early on and start working in a real-world design office as a sophomore,” McGraw said. “The PFW internship program our senior year was definitely the most helpful because we were able to block out time to be at our design firm most of the week.”
McGraw also mentioned how the interior design program taught students to express their designs in drawings and renderings and how to present those to clients.
“That’s definitely a big thing to me, being able to be creative,” McGraw said. “All of the interior design professors and design professors gave us the freedom to be creative in any way possible. I’m grateful for the push that all of the professors gave us just to be better and work harder.”
Libni Trostel
School of Education
A human services major, Trostel is trying to decide between professional opportunities with PFW in the Student Success Center, the YWCA as a bilingual advocate, or as a case manager at Aging and In-Home Services or the Bowen Center.
“PFW has prepared me in many different ways, from lessons about self-care to working in the field, the curriculum has ensured that students from the School of Education and the Department of Human Services are fully equipped with the tools necessary to be hirable, desirable, and excel in roles that we take on within the community,” Trostel said. “Furthermore, the student organizations have provided many engaging activities that help students network with other students, faculty, staff, and organizations outside the university.
“Overall, the lessons that I have learned both in and outside of the classroom at PFW have proven to be beneficial for my professional and personal life. They have also helped me to make friendships that I look forward to continuing after graduation.”
Saviour Avorgah
College of Science
A native of Ghana, Saviour is graduating with a Master of Science degree in mathematics and a job with Central Insurance as a data scientist.
“Being able to connect the dots from the classroom to the real world is really exciting,” Saviour said. “One of the things that I like about the Department of Mathematical Sciences at PFW is that they allowed me to select courses that I would like to learn about to shape my future.”
Saviour transferred to PFW after graduating at Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2019.
Lynn Herbst-Acevedo
College of Liberal Arts
A political science major, Herbst-Acevedo served two years in PFW’s Student Government Association, the last as vice president.
“[The university] did an excellent job, not only with the academics that gave me a great look into what a workload would look like on a day-to-day basis, but in terms of how I can take those skills into the workplace,” she said. “Also, being in SGA has given me a great opportunity to use the skills I learned from being involved on campus into the workplace, too.”
Herbst-Acevedo started working locally a month ago for SCAN, which stands for Stop Child Abuse and Neglect, as a prevention council coordinator. Her experiences at PFW sound as if they’ll be lasting.
“I would not change it for the world,” Herbst-Acevedo said. “I originally didn’t even want to go to school here. It was literally my last choice, and I’m so glad that I picked it because it has absolutely changed my life. It’s just really hard to say goodbye because of everybody I have come to know, and it’s kind of like my safe space. I’m going to miss it a lot.”
