On Jan. 31, The Math Club of Saint Leo University presented “Math Club’s Panel to Success.” The free event was held in the SCC Boardrooms at 6:30 p.m. and was sponsored by Alumni Relations and Career Planning Services.
“The Math Club got this idea from a conference that they attended last year August in Chicago”, said Dr. Monika Kiss, a professor of mathematics and advisor of the Math Club who has been advising the math club for about 13 years.
“This event is one of the biggest Math Club events this year,” expressed Caitlin Walsh, a sophomore psychology and mathematics major and president of the Math club. The entire Math Club had all hands and feet on deck to ensure that this event went off without a hitch.
Amanda Luce, a junior mathematics major and treasurer of the Math club, was the speaker and master of ceremonies for the entire event.
“This event was five full months of planning and organizing,” stated Luce. The event was all about alumni’s or persons who have been in careers that either is math or that stems from math.
Luce directed several questions at a panel of six. The panelists were Krystal Muniz, tax accountant and substitute teacher; Robert Jones, principal at Hillsborough County Public Schools; Tom Lambert, senior vice president at BBT; Maya Wilson, Reliability Technician at Tampa Electric; Samantha Kern, first grade English teacher abroad; and, last but not least, Pierce Dean, an accountant at Saint Leo University. The panelists talked about their past and present experiences how they got to the point in their lives today.
“All the questions asked last night were taken from a collection of questions we received from students last week during a tabling event we held every day from 11am-1pm outside the SAB,” explained Walsh. “Alumni relations was a great resource when we wanted to reach out to some of our alums. Some of the panelists were former Math Club members with who we have kept in touch. One panelist works for Saint Leo and was gracious enough to offer his time.”
The panel was assembled with some help from members of the Career Services team.
“Career Services works to collaborate with staff, faculty, campus partners, student organizations and more to better serve the students at Saint Leo. The Panel to Success event was a great opportunity to collaborate with The Math Club and Alumni Engagement to connect current students will alumni- in order for them to create strong connections and increase their professional networks,” said Meagan Jones, Assistant Director of Career Planning. “Current
students were connected with alumni in careers in Mathematics, Accounting, Economics, Computer Science and Education.”
The panelist left the students with a lot of knowledge. According to Michael Lee, a junior computer science major, some key terms that were repeated by all panelist were “honest, integrity, quality of work, respect, networking, and personality.” These terms can help students in any process of getting a job, internship, interviews.
This Math Club event was an eye opener for the students that were engulfed in all of the information that the panelists shared.
Adora Henson, a freshman mathematics major, learned that she “should make connections early and join clubs.”
“Students should become more involved in academically inclined clubs because it is a great way to begin networking and to start focusing on your career,” suggested Dr. Kiss.
“I learned that I should put myself out there to do more social networking,” said Shannon Lynch, a sophomore biology major.
“I came to support the math club as a proud student and to open my eyes to the business world after college,” added Patrick Berry, a freshman computer science major.
According to Dr. Kiss, “the math club meet every Thursday at 5:00 p.m. in the School of Business, room 130. All are welcome to come to a meeting any time and learn just how the Math Club can help students. They are always looking for new members, too!
