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Graduation Speaker: NC State – There’s Just Something about this Place

Of those, seven received doctoral degrees; 65 received master’s degrees, and 228 received bachelor’s degrees. While the ceremony acknowledged the academic achievements of all the graduates, several were recognized for their outstanding collegiate accomplishments, and one, Meredith Ann Craig, presented remarks on behalf of her fellow graduates, on the theme: there’s something about this place.

College of Management Board of Advisors’ Outstanding Student Award

Lauren Kristine Sloan was selected as the award recipient from among 11 students nominated this fall. She also was one of the college’s highest ranking seniors. A summary of her academic achievements appears below.

Also nominated for the Board of Advisors’ Award were Casey Joseph Offerman, Cecilia Marin Thoma, Christopher Dean Moore, Elisabeth Diane Warren, Herman Glenn Johnson, John Daniel Eshleman, Michael John Davenport, Rebecca Suzanne Haszko, Scott Schrader Schroeder, and Shavonna Nichole Barrow.

Highest Ranking Seniors

The highest ranking seniors in each of the college’s three undergraduate degree programs received the highest grade point average among students in their programs of study for all courses completed at NC State, and also had significant accomplishments outside of the classroom. The highest ranking seniors for the fall 2009 semester are:

  • Christopher Dean Moore, business administration, with a concentration in finance

Moore is from Greensboro, N.C., is a member is Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society, Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society, and Gamma Beta Phi. He has donated hs time in community service by working at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina and Greensboro Urban Ministries. He completed a summer study brod proram in New Zealand, and an internship with The Priess Company. He has accepted a spring 2009 internship with Sageworks, and plans to pursue a master of accounting degree.

  • David Michael McNally, accounting and business administration, with concentrations in financial analysis and finance

McNally is from Fayetteville, N.C., and is a member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Socieyt, Natonal collegiate Scholars, and Beta Alpha Psi Accounting Fraternity. He completed an internship with James Lucas and Company. After graduation, he is completing an internship with Johnson Lambert, and plans to enter the Master of Accounting Program at the NC State College of Management’s Jenkins Graduate School of Management.

  • Lauren Kristine Sloan, economics and international studies with a concentration in Africa

Sloan is a Hamilton Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society. She is also the vice chair of the NC State Community Service Commission She completed study abroad programs in Paris, France, and Accra, Ghana. While in Ghana, she led a one-week leadership campus for local youth. She completed internships with Solidarite Roquette Social Center in Paris, and Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina. After graduation, she will complete an internship with Touchwood Ecological and Social Foundation in Southeast India, and plans to pursue her master’s degree in environmental economics.

  • Adam Wade Robinson, business administration with a concentration in finance, and accounting, with a concentration in financial analysis and a minor in Spanish.

Robinson had received the College of Management Boeing Scholarship for the 2008-9 academic year, completed a summer internship with Credit Suisse as an operations analyst and is currently in the Master of Accounting Program in the College of Management’s Jenkins Graduate School.

Student Commencement Address

“There’s Something about This Place,” said Meredith Craig, College of Management undergraduate commencement speaker who remarked on the transition from student to alumni at the college’s Dec. 19 Commencement Ceremony. Craig, a native of Wilmington, N.C., graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a concentration in marketing.

“I am sure you would all agree with me when I say there is just something about this place. Something that gives us a sense of home and will always be a part of our lives – North Carolina State University.”

Craig had tallied up the number of days that a typical undergraduate spends as an NC State student – 1,584 – and recollected the freshmen experience of wandering “around campus with our maps in tow trying to navigate through the endless sea of bricks that surrounded us. We spent a lot of time trying to determine where exactly did Tompkins Hall begin and Winston Hall end.”

Her own journey as part of the Wolfpack family, she said, began at a very young age. “My parents dressed me up as a little Wolfpacker for my very first Halloween,” and she recalled the phone conversations between her father and grandfather during football games, with her mother cheering the team on in the background. The Wolfpack tradition continued when her sister enrolled in the College of Engineering as an undergraduate student – “I knew then that I was going to follow in her footsteps” – and is now working on her Ph.D. in engineering at NC State.

Looking back over her own years as a student, Craig, speaking on behalf of her fellow graduating students, said, “We truly appreciate what this university has done for us. More importantly, we appreciate the efforts of the faculty nd staff of the College of Management. It is within the classrooms of Nelson Hall that our professors and instructors shred with us their real life industry experiences. The faculty and staff of this college are not only academics; they are professionals who have worked in the day to day grind of a business environment. They have taught us the importance of networking and have taken a hands-on approach to education.”

Craig recounted the case studies and projects that brought students into direct interaction with “real companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, 3M, Capital One and GE, just to name a few. These experiences are invaluable to us,” she said.

“On the last week of classes, one of my professors said that as College of Management students, we have learned a language over the past four years – the language of business,” she said. “We have been given the tools to step out into our new careers or further studies with confidence that we can make a significant impact. The College of Management – there is just something about this place.”

She also recounted the advice of a best friend in the final weeks of her last semester. “The advice was to look down at my feet while walking around campus, through the brickyard, or in the halls of Nelson and to make a mental note of my surroundings and where I have taken these steps. These are the very same footsteps that you will take walking across this stage to graduate today. These are the very same steps that will guide you into interviews, and even into your very first day of your new careers. The footsteps that we have taken at this university have paved our way into the future. We must always hold onto this place as we face change head-on.” That change, she said, was not only the transition from student to young professional, but also “the ever-changing way that people do business.”

In concluding her remarks, Craig left her fellow graduates with a challenge. “So I ask you now. Is there something about this place that you hold dear to your heart? I challenge you all to go out into the world and be the ethical business leaders that the College of Management has prepared us to be. Hold onto your memories of this day, and always remember the steps that brought you to t his moment. North Carolina State University; there will just always be something about this place.”

Craig is beginning her career as a field sales representative with Cintas in the Research Triangle Park. While a student she was a member of the Wolfpack Clogging Team, serving as president for three years and treasurer for one ear. She also was an ambassador for the NC State Cooperative Education Program, and completed two full-time internships with GlaxoSmithKline as part of the co-op program, working in the area of molecular discovery research-IT in portfolio management. Off campus, she worked as a dance instructor for the past three years at Center Stage School of Performing Arts Garner, N.C., where she coached three competitive teams and taught dance classes. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing and a minor in biological sciences.

Photos

Left: Lauren K. Sloan, recipient, College of Management Board of Advisors Outstanding Student Award

Center: Graduates participating in the Pinning Ceremony, in which each ‘pins’ another student with an NC State College of Management pin. The new alumni are encouraged to give their pins away to other alumni they meet in the course of their careers, and then to contact the college to get a new pin for themselves.

Right: Meredith Craig, student commencement speaker