What are you doing after graduation?

This is what some of our upcoming and recent graduates are planning:

Cameron Andrews, psychology senior, will join Americorps for a year. He will be placed in Anchorage, Alaska working with veterans and homeless individuals who suffer from mental illnesses and helping them integrate back into society. After Americorps, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in either clinical psychology, biopsychology, or multicultural psychology, preferably at the University of Michigan.

Rianna Baeza, psychology senior, is going to pursue a master’s degree in human factors/ergonomics engineering at San Jose State. She hopes to research the complex relationship between humans and virtual reality technology. Particularly, she is interested in its implications for enhancing cognition for individuals who are socially, perceptually and attention impaired. After grad school, she plans to work at a tech company as a user experience researcher.

Grace Barosky, psychology senior, will be attending Cal Poly's Master of Science in Psychology program.

Jamie Bohannan, child development senior, will pursue a teaching credential at St. Mary's College of California.

Marielle (Mia) Burridge, psychology senior, is currently working part-time as the education program coordinator at RISE, a local nonprofit resource for sexual assault and intimate partner violence. She hopes to work in that position full time for a few years and then apply to grad schools for public health. Mia is interested in going into education, specializing in education policies and procedures regarding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and trauma informed trainings for educators and institutions.

Jansen Estrada, child development senior, plans to work in a classroom setting either as a teacher aide or a substitute. He eventually hopes to pursue a teaching credential.

Elena Fike, psychology senior, will continue at her current full-time position as a match support specialist at Big Brothers Big Sisters of SLO County. She hopes to move to Cape Town, South Africa for a year to either do research or work for a nonprofit.

Shaylyn Freimanis, psychology senior, has been hired on at her internship site as a full-time, paid psychology intern under the supervision of the psychiatrist on staff for brain stimulation, as well as shadowing for medication management of psychiatric disorders and overall patient care.

Gwendolyn Garcia, child development senior, will be working at the Center for Family Strengthening in San Luis Obispo. She has also taken parent educating courses to be certified as a parent educator, and she will be teaching parenting classes. She enjoys working with families to help give them tools and techniques to grow as a cohesive family unit. She also plans to volunteer to help expand her network and keep active in the community.

Michelle Georgette, psychology senior, will be moving to the Bay Area to work with Adobe Systems as an HR generalist as part of the employee experience team at their headquarters in San Jose. Michelle is pleased to be working within a unique and vibrant company culture.

Melissa Giddens, psychology senior, hopes to begin in the Cal Poly Counseling and Guidance Program for Higher Education in the fall. She plans to earn her master's in education and then go on to work with high school and college students on college prep and academic advising.

Melissa Graham, child development senior, has accepted a position as the Quarter Plus program coordinator in Cal Poly Extended Education.

Devon Haley, child development senior, has an internship with a nonprofit called International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is a global organization that protects the poor from violence in the developing world. The office she will be working in specifically provides aftercare for sex trafficking survivors.

Christian Harris, psychology senior, is currently deciding between a master’s program in counseling psychology with a focus in drama therapy at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) or a master's in drama therapy at NYU (Steinhardt College).

Domitila Hernandez, child development senior, hopes to begin a master’s degree in education with a teaching credential program at USC.

Cory Kent, child development senior, was inspired by Elizabeth Barrett to take a service year before graduate school. She will be working with Americorps and hopes to work providing services and resources connected to health and wellness. She is exploring placements all around the United States.

Michelle Klinker, psychology senior, has accepted a spot in the SJSU master's program for I/O psychology.

Emily LaVoy, child development senior, will be applying to grad schools to get into an occupational therapy master’s program. She hopes to use this to become a pediatric OT working with special needs kids in a clinical setting.

Claire Leyba, child development senior, plans to stay in SLO to get her teaching credential.

Samantha Lizer, child development senior, is applying to Physicians Assistant school.

Jacqueline Lujano, master's student, will be heading back to her hometown in the Central Valley. She aims to work within County Mental Health or an outpatient clinic working with children, families and a wide variety of other clients as she gains her hours needed for licensure.

Melody Mabry, psychology senior, will be working for Karson Butler Events in downtown San Luis Obispo as a store assistant in the Ah Louis Store and event assistant. She also currently works at the Cal Poly Recreation Center as a student manager, and she will be taking on a temporary supervisor role after graduation while her supervisor is on leave. In January, she plans to move to the Gold Coast in Australia to work in the event industry.

Mackenzie Morrison, psychology senior, will be attending Cal Poly's Master of Science in Psychology program.

Allison Newlee, psychology senior, plans to take off at least two years to plan for grad school. Currently she hopes to either do counseling with adolescents (specifically LGBTQAIP) or use her WGS/ES minor to train sex education teachers on how to make sex education more inclusive of bodies, sexualities, gender identities, and different forms of development. She is deciding between a Ph.D. in counseling psychology, a master's degree in social work or a master's degree in sexuality studies.

Maria Ota, child development senior, hopes to go abroad to teach English as a foreign language, and then to return to the states to become a multiple subject teacher. Eventually, she hopes to be a single subject teacher in either math or science, and she may pursue a master’s degree.

Jessica Patterson, child development senior, has applied to graduate school for a master's degree in occupational therapy. She plans to be an OT for children with disabilities.

Taylor Phillips, psychology senior, will be continuing her education in the Cal Poly Master of Science in Psychology program. She hopes to open her own practice while continuing work at a non-profit.

Melinda Radsliff, child development senior, is hoping to get her master’s in library science to be an elementary school or junior high school librarian. She plans to apply to San Jose State's online library science program.

Meghan Ray, child development senior, is applying to special education credential programs and hopes to start in fall 2017.

Heather Runzel, psychology senior, plans to serve in Americorps for a year and then continue working in the nonprofit/social justice sector.

Cassidy Sargent, child development senior, is planning to pursue a multiple subject teaching credential at Cal Poly next year. She is also exploring a dual credential in single subject English.

Emma Sturm, psychology senior, plans to take a year off to work on creative projects. She then plans to earn a doctorate degree in health psychology and research the role of socially stigmatized topics in health care.

Emma Tietje, psychology graduate, plans to accept a position on the User Experience Research Team at MINDBODY in San Luis Obispo. She has been interning with them for about a year now and has been offered an apprentice position.

Bailey Wanner, child development senior, will be moving to Bucharest, Romania for 13 months to intern with a mission organization that works with orphaned children and at risk families. Bailey interned with this organization for two months in the summer of 2016, and she is very excited to get back to the Romanian staff and all the kids that touched her heart that summer.

Christine Yee, child development senior, plans to go into pediatric occupational therapy. She will take a year off to finish prerequisites and find an OT internship.