Throughout college, students are often asked what their goals are, what they want to do after they graduate and where they want to be in the near future. Often times, students have their plans mapped out in their minds, but things don’t always go the way they are planned to go. But, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. There are plenty of people whose careers didn’t go the way they envisioned it, but are just as happy, if not happier, where they are now. This was the case for two members of Waynesburg University’s staff.

Associate Director of Alumni Relations, Victoria Beppler, is a 2011 graduate of Waynesburg University. Beppler majored in public relations. It was not Beppler’s original plan to stay at the university to put her degree and four years of studying to use at. When asked what her plan was as she prepared to graduate from WU in May of 2011, Beppler saw herself working somewhere in the Pittsburgh area for a non-profit organization. Now Beppler is entering her sixth year as a university employee.

She started out as a student writer in university relations. There her responsibilities revolved around writing stories, news releases and feature stories. She was eligible to stay working in that office until the end of the fiscal year. At the end of that date, Beppler was “in the market for a public relations job somewhere” and was able to obtain her first position as Alumni Relations Representative.

“Our former Vice President, Heidi Szuminsky, was then director of alumni relations at the time, had reached out to me to see if I would be interested in that job,” said Beppler. “And I read the job description and I thought that it really would tailor to my skills and be something I’d really enjoy. And that was that.”

Beppler got the position. Since then she has become the associate director of alumni relations and “absolutely loves her job.”

One of her favorite parts about her job is that she meets and gets to know alumni from all over the country.

“I love that I get to interact with people who have a story,” Beppler said. “I get to ask them why they came to [Waynesburg] and how [Waynesburg] shaped their lives and where they are now and why they support the university.”

Beppler also finds a lot of enjoyment in getting to travel for various events around the country.

“If you told me, when I was a senior, that I’d be working in Alumni Relations, that I’d be traveling for the university to these events, I would have said no way, but I’m really grateful to [Waynesburg] for allowing me to have the opportunity to work here and to grow, not only as a graduate, but as a professional,” Beppler said.

Beppler was able to get her graduate degree in 2014 along with go on an alumni service trip to Guatemala.

Emily Nowakowski is very new to the Waynesburg University staff. Nowakowski graduated in the spring of 2017 as a psychology major with a minor in Spanish. She now works as an admissions counselor. What made her want to do admissions was she had a very strong connection and close relationship with her guidance counselor in high school, it was that person who, in a way, inspired her to do something along the lines of admissions counseling.

“I love working with people, especially high school aged kids,” said Nowakowski. “In a way, I want to stay a kid forever, plus I’m still very able to relate with them to help them with the admissions process.”

Nowakowski sees herself working at Waynesburg for a decent part of the upcoming future. She plans to use the position as a “stepping stone” to develop herself professionally. Her main goal is to “bring awesome people into the university” and obtain her Master’s in Business Administration. She also plans to use her minor in Spanish to help alleviate the language barrier should she ever come across someone whose first language is Spanish.