As the 2016 school year comes to a close, Lafayette’s seniors are preparing to face the world outside of college. Many students in the class of 2016 are looking forward to exciting futures, from a job designing breweries to Columbia law school to Fulbright scholarships.
Kai Ottaway ‘16 will be working as an Engineering Design Manager for a German engineering firm that designs breweries. The firm works from the Key Biscayne’s, an island off the coast of Miami.
“My family actually works for the Brooklyn Brewery, and this company is designing Brooklyn Brewery’s new breweries in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and South Korea,” he said.
“I introduced two new programs to the company which would speed up their design time by 70 percent, so they offered me a job,” he added.
According to Ottaway, much of his preparedness for the future stems from the engineering program at Lafayette.
“My job is designing plant systems, and the thermodynamic and fluo-dynamic classes that we’ve had have definitely prepared me for what I have to do in the industry,” he said.
Michael Galperin ‘16 will be on the other side of the globe after graduation. He will teach English as a Fulbright Scholar in South Korea. The United States Fulbright Scholar Program provides grants for individually designed research projects or for English Teaching Assistant Programs, according to their website.
Galperin has been a teaching assistant in Evolutionary Biology for the past three semesters, an opportunity Galperin said has prepared him for his new teaching position.
“I’ve learned really how to explain difficult concepts in easier-to-understand manners, and through every class at Lafayette, you really learn strong communication skills and problem-solving skills,” Galperin said.
Camila Moscoso ‘16 will also be a Fulbright Scholar, but she will be working as an English teacher in Venezuela.
“The whole point of Fulbright is that they want to foster connections between the U.S. and the country that you’re going to, so you’re technically like a cultural ambassador,” Moscoso said. “You’ll be teaching a class, but they want you to be involved in service projects, too.”
Before heading to Venezuela, Moscoso hopes to be employed in a temporary job position over the summer with Chemonics International, an international development company. If given the job she will be their Latin American and Caribbean archivist.
Alyssa Braver ‘16 will be heading to law school at Columbia University fall of this year.
“It’s kind of weird because my parents are both doctors, but I was always grossed out by blood,” Braver said. “I thought being a lawyer would be a good way to help people without dealing with blood, so it’s always been a dream of mine.”
“Lafayette really gives you the opportunity to do a lot of different things, and that really helped me definitely figure out that the law is something that is something I want to do,” Braver said.
Braver will be accompanied by two of her best friends from Lafayette in New York City who have been accepted into different graduate programs at Columbia.
“It’s going to be nice to be in the city,” she said, “but still have people that I’m friends with.”