Category: 2018-2019 Honorees

Nandini Agarwal is a year away from graduation and already she is making her mark not only here at USF, but around the world. She has worked to better the lives of women in her native country, India. As a freshman, she took on an undergraduate research project titled “Impediments to Indian Women’s Financial Literacy and Participation.” She traveled to India where she interned at the Center for Social Research, a women’s rights organization, in the summer.

Though she’s not yet 20 years old, Agarwal is getting ready to graduate in August 2020. She remembers being just 4 when her mother told her the moon had no light of its own, but that it was the sun that gave light to the moon. She has likened herself and USF to that analogy. USF is the sun, and she is the moon that reflects the light imbibed here.

She is a USF Provost Scholar and Honors College student who is a candidate for a dual degree in accounting and finance. She also is the recipient of the coveted 2018 Golden Bull Award and the Genshaft/Greenbaum International Honors Study Scholarship. She traveled to London with the USF in London program where she was awarded the Greatest Academic Achievement.

She came to the United States when she was 15 and has blossomed in her college career. She serves on the Lynn Pippenger School of Accountancy Student Advisory Board and is the vice president of the Business Honors Service Association. This summer, she will be interning with Goldman Sachs in New York City.

 

Sofia Tejera Moran’s life over the past four years has been a period of personal growth and enlightenment. Coming from her home country of Venezuela, she has blossomed into a confident, ambitious young woman who is ready to make her mark in whatever path she chooses. She has interned overseas and here, mastered the tools of marketing, including software and social media, and is ready for the next chapter in her life to open up.

Tejera Moran is set to graduate in May 2019 with a degree in marketing and business administration. She has maintained a grade-point average of 3.94 and has been named to the Dean’s List on multiple occasions.  She has taken part in the Marketing Mentorship Program and was the recipient of the Global Citizens Scholarship in 2016, which allowed her to travel to Florence, Italy, to study for a semester as part of the study-abroad program.

She currently is an intern with the Muma College of Business Communications and Marketing Department, where she assists in graphic design, writing and event planning. She also served as an intern for Russel Reynolds Associates in Zurich, Switzerland, a personnel-search company that has offices around the world. There, she helped research candidates for different companies and prepare client presentations.

She currently is the marketing director for the Plan Pais Conference, an annual event that is held in different cities (this year in Tampa) to draw awareness to the social, political and economic upheaval in Venezuela. In that role, Tejera Moran is charged with creating a marketing plan with promotional strategies to encourage participation in the conference, expected to draw 300 attendees.

Frances Rice’s athletic career has held many lessons for her academic life and for what lies beyond after graduation. She has learned teamwork and how to be a leader; that perseverance and comradery can be just as important as personal achievement. She is a scholarship pole vaulter and high jumper for the USF track and field team who practices up to 20 hours a week when not competing at meets and spends 15 hours a week in the classroom.

Rice is set to graduate in May 2019 with a degree in marketing and a minor in mass communications. She has participated in the Marketing Mentor Program and is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team, the National Society of Leadership and Success, the USF Athletics Department Honor Roll and has been named to the Dean’s List on several occasions.

She worked as an intern with Macy’s Credit and Customer Service Center where she created reports for software program usage, presented report findings to directors and managers and prepared training materials for new software launches. She also interned with Bell Athletics where she served as a camp counselor at the elite pole vaulting training facility in Arkansas. There, she oversaw 15 campers training to be college athletes.

Off campus, Rice has volunteered at Paralympic Sports of Tampa Bay, interacting with children of all ages. She also traveled to Haiti twice on mission trips to small villages of Duverger and Danndan, working at Haiti180’s mission school, medical clinic, elderly home and orphanage and delivering much needed supplies to villagers.

Karina Rao has risen to leadership roles in just about everything she undertakes. And now, she is poised to enter the real world of business to do the same thing. She already has been accepted into a full-time position with Raymond James Financial as part of the investment giant’s Accelerated Development Program in the marketing department.

Rao is set to graduate in May 2019 with a degree in international business. She has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average both overall and in her major. At the end of her freshman year, she took a position in the USF Honors College as a marketing student assistant. She continues to work there now as a communications and marketing intern. She edits the weekly newsletter, directs, edits and produces video productions to promote faculty, international trips and other Honors College initiatives; updates the college’s website, does interviews, writes stories and shoots photographs for the annual report.

She also served as a marketing development intern at Raymond James Financial last year, a position that found her tracking consumer behavior, assessing diversity in the company and its competitors’ marketing materials and managing projects designed to communicate and collaborate with clients. She also wrote bios of associates who were recipients of the Award of Service Excellence. She currently serves as the company’s campus recruiter.

She entered USF with the intent of honing her leadership skills and making meaningful connections and she has accomplished these goals and much more. She helped create the Global Citizens Club and became its marketing coordinator. She served as public relations coordinator for the Asian Students in America club and was the vice president of memberships for Toastmasters.

Shaquille Kent is ready to head into his future. He already has a job upon graduation at Deloitte, a major accounting and consulting firm, but he also hopes to continue giving back to the community by providing access to education through a scholarship that will provide financial support along with mentorship opportunities to help students realize their dreams just as he did.

He is set to graduate in May 2019 with a degree in marketing with a concentration in supply chain management. He is minoring in business analytics and information systems. He has accomplished so much while here at USF.

He was elected USF student body vice president in 2017, helping shape the university’s policies as they relate to the student body over the past two years. As vice president, he oversees Bulls Radio, Computer Services and the Safe Team. He also served as liaison between the USF Alumni Association and the student body and was the sole student representative on the USF presidential search committee for the university’s seventh president to replace Judy Genshaft. Along the way, he was chosen to be a USF student ambassador, a role in which he helped host events for the university and participated in community service programs.

Kent was chosen as a member of the Order of the Golden Brahman and served as a resident assistant. He participated in the Corporate Mentor Program and was a member of the Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals. He also is a world-class paddler, having represented Trinidad and Tobago in several international Dragon Boat competitions, winning a silver medal in Hungary in 2013 and in the world championships in Tampa in 2011.

Julianne Woodard experienced a turning point in her sophomore year here at USF when she headed to San Francisco to be a customer finance intern with Genentech, a biopharma company. She was one of 400 interns chosen from a field of 30,000 and was one of the few selected from Florida. Her ability to quickly adapt helped her navigate the demanding work ahead of her and she returned to the classroom re-invigorated and eager to learn more.

Woodard is set to graduate in May 2020 with a degree in finance with a concentration in corporate finance. She is minoring in international studies. She has maintained a grade point average of 3.83 and is enrolled in the business honors program and is the recipient of the USF Scholars Award, the USF Foundations Award and the Honors Scholarship. She is enrolled in the Business Honors Program.

She also has worked for New Student Connections as a peer advisor leader providing students with a safe space to discuss personal and adjustment issues and has worked as a marketing intern for the USF Athletics Department, where she assists in implementing marketing strategies to the student body through social media and other platforms. She also is a challenge-course facilitator for USF Outdoor Recreation. There, she creates innovative team building programs for groups ranging from middle school students to executives.

She has volunteered for Bulls Service Break, Camp Kesem as an outreach coordinator and is a USF Ambassador, fostering relationships between the student body and alumni. Additionally, she served as a lead mentor with the Bulls Business Community, helping manage the living/learning community of 25 first-year and 10 second-year students.

Samantha Whyte lives in two worlds: the law and accounting. She began her academic career as a criminology major and soon realized her love of the law. But a crossroads loomed ahead. After taking some accounting courses, she became conflicted. But now, she’s getting ready to graduate in May 2020 with dual degrees: criminology and accounting.

Maintaining a 3.93 grade-point average while taking a diverse and full course load would seem to be enough. But in her first year at USF, she was elected senator in student government and went on to be re-elected two more times. As part of her senatorial duties, she was appointed to the Senate Executive Board as vice chair of the ethics committee. That involved looking into matters involving student activities and services fees, and cases of misconduct.

She also served on the grants committee, the policy committee and relations committee. As part of her work on the grants committee, she received the Legislative Legend Award, given to a senator who has exceeded the job description by creating and executing initiatives.

Whyte is president of the Bulls Bar Association, an organization she has been a member of for two years; secretary of the USF Criminology Club and member of the Chi-Omega fraternity, the Accounting Society as well as serving as an Honors College orientation mentor.

Outside of her responsibilities on campus, she has volunteered at Fraud Doctor as a research assistant and volunteered with animals at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. She also has participated in the annual Stampede of Service.

Sharleen Kiana So’s path through her academic career is remarkable. She and her family came here from the Philippines in 2015 and she began taking classes online only. That’s because she was working three jobs – a crew member at McDonalds, a cashier at Publix and later, a part-time teller at J.P. Morgan and Chase Bank – to make ends meet.

It wasn’t until 2018 that she had to finally come to campus to take classes face-to-face with professors and classmates. And that experience opened her eyes to the full university experience. Organizations she had no idea existed were there to join, mentors helped students, scholarships were available and studying abroad was a reality. And she took full advantage. She received scholarships that allowed her to travel to Florence, Italy, in the summer of 2018 and she has never looked back.

She now is getting ready to graduate in December 2019 with a degree in accounting with an overall 4.0 grade-point average. She is a member of the Accounting Society at USF, the Student Investment Club, the USF Chinese Students Association and she is a USF GloBull Ambassador. She speaks five languages, including Filipino, Mandarin, Hokkien, and has received a certificate for business skills and practices from Sandler Training.

This summer, she will join Carr, Riggs and Ingram, an accounting firm, as an audit intern.

Off campus, she has helped raise funds for a handful of charities, including the March of Dimes, Special Olympics and Food for Sharing.

Mariam Raza’s grandfather owned a business in Pakistan and that inspired her to study finance, but once she began taking courses at USF, the world opened up for her, offering so much more to enrich her life. She was elected senator by Muma College of Business students last year and continues in her role of representation in student government by participating in internal committees and helping to allocate the money towards student organizations and addressing student concerns.

Raza is expected to graduate in May 2019 with a degree in finance and a minor in business analytics and information systems. She is part of the Provost’s Scholars Program and the Business Honors Program and the USF Honors College and is researching and writing her thesis: “The Current and Future Implications of Money Laundering on the Individual and the Government.” Her thesis advisor said she is the first student he has worked with who is working toward getting the article published.

Raza has interned with Citi where she reviewed and assessed the risks of third-party on-boarding processes and she served as an accounting clerk at the Muma College of Business, reconciling payroll accounts and budgets. She was also the environmental awareness and animal welfare chair for Service Fellows in the Center of Leadership and Civic Engagement. In this role, Raza led volunteer trips twice a month to encourage service within the community. She also mentored freshmen as part of the Bulls Business Community and is the community outreach chair of USF’s BuildOn program.

Off-campus, Raza volunteered as an assistant with the Pasco County Library, served as a summer science camp counselor with the Museum of Science and Industry and, with Radiant Hands, distributed donations to Syrian refugees.

Thomas McLaughlin II, with a year to go before he graduates, already has put on full display his leadership capabilities. From his involvement with the USF Lecture Series, to his work with the USF Center for Student Involvement, along with being named to the Dean’s List every semester since he came here, McLaughlin has proven his commitment to academic achievement and community enrichment.

McLaughlin is set to graduate in May 2020 with a degree in business analytics and information systems and a minor in finance. He previously served as the vice president of marketing for the Phi Chi Theta business fraternity, of which he is a founding member. He also helped the Sun Blaze Elementary Parent-Teacher Association in Orlando develop a website and member database.

He previously served as executive director of the University Lecture Series whose guests have included Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, Winston Duke, from “Black Panther,” and “Me Too” movement founder Tarana Burke. In this role, he allocates a budget of $200,000 plus speaker budgets for the series. He served as a mentor with the Bulls Business Community, assisting freshmen as they adjust to university life.

As a volunteer, McLaughlin has been involved with the Relay for Life, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, and worked with 100 students to host an overnight fundraising event at an Orlando high school. In 2015, he traveled to Haiti, where he planted trees in Haitian villages as part of the Mission of Hope project, as well as tutoring children in a Haitian primary school.

Brittany Junkins is heavily involved in off-campus activities. She has cleaned enclosures at the Tampa Big Cat rescue, cooked and served dinners to people affected by cancer at Hope Lodge, helped feed the homeless at Metropolitan Ministries and served breakfast to residents of the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. Through all of that, she has maintained her self-imposed, high-achieving academic goals.

Junkins is set to graduate in May 2021 and has maintained a grade-point average of 3.97 in her dual-degree program that will award her degrees in advertising and business. She is enrolled in the Zimmerman Advertising Program and has been a member of the Bulls Business Community and the Bulls Business Network as well as the USF Honors College. She also serves as co-chair of the Honors College Student Council Marketing Committee.

She has served as a graphic design intern since August 2018 for the College of the Arts and is a freelance writer for OneClass Blog. She also was a marketing intern for the USF Student Affairs and Success Office, where she executed creative marketing approaches, coordinated marketing research and assisted with project management.

As part of the Bulls Business Community and the ZAP program, she has participated in countless opportunities including company tours, networking chances with influential professionals and even a study-abroad opportunity in Europe.  In the BBC, she became a mentor for students in that program and ZAP, where she not only is a role model but also a leader students can turn to and depend on to help them with obstacles they may face in class, elsewhere on campus or in their everyday lives.

Frank Harris’ transition from college student to equity research associate will be seamless. Already, he has accepted a job right after graduation at Raymond James Financial, covering 20-25 stocks in a sector and using his skills to advise clients, including some hedge fund managers. It’s not new to him, as he served as a corporate banking intern prior to becoming equity research intern this spring and twice was sent to New York City to meet with clients and management teams.

Harris is set to graduate in May 2019, majoring in finance with a concentration in asset management and a minor in economics. He is one of a small group of students chosen to manage the Student Managed Investment Fund, a portfolio valued at $1 million. The students make up a class that studies investments and pitches opportunities to a panel of working investment professionals and portfolio managers.

He has been named to the Dean’s List multiple times and is registered as a June 2019 Level 1 CFA Candidate. Harris also serves as executive chairman of the Student Investment Club and played a significant role in its early growth. He has given weekly seminars, teaching club members about basic/advanced topics of investing and how they can begin investing for their future.

In addition to leading seminars, speaking to classes, assisting students in resume critiques and job searches, participating in recruiting events and being involved in creating a bi-weekly newsletter for finance students in the club, Harris has found time to be a USF campus ambassador for Raymond James. In this role, he assists in recruitment efforts for the investment corporation in search of a new generation of talented employees.

Maria Garzon Rincon has immersed herself in the USF experience since coming here four years ago. She enrolled in the Corporate Mentor Program, tutored students and participated in the study abroad opportunities in London. She is comfortable adapting to different business environments and is adept at sharing ideas with others.

She graduates in May 2019 with a dual degree in finance and management. In July, she embarks on her career, having landed a position as an analyst with Goldman Sachs in Salt Lake City. It was her experience there as a summer analyst last year that paved the way. During that stint, she participated in the pilot rotation program and worked on various teams under trade and transaction management.

On campus, she continues to be a business calculus tutor in the Academic Success Center and teaches the ins and outs of calculus to 15 students at a time in a group setting and she serves as a peer leader for business calculus in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. She is enrolled in the USF Honors College and is a member of the Latin American Student Association, the University Student Tutor Association, Venezuelan Student Alliance and is a volunteer for Autism Shifts.

She also worked as a student leader for INTO USF, welcoming international students during orientation week and helping them adapt to the American educational system and culture. A native of Colombia, Garzon Rincon was promoted to executive student leader at INTO USF and was given the responsibility of mentoring, leading and supporting her coworkers. She speaks Spanish, her native language, and is fluent in English.

Sonia Duraimurugan wouldn’t exactly call herself a scholar before she came to USF as a freshman in 2016. But since coming here, she has set her mind to the task and has excelled in just about every way. She took full advantage of her education here and increased her involvement in leadership opportunities both on and off campus. She has gained skills such as public speaking, which she never thought she possessed before coming here.

She is set to graduate in May 2020 with a degree in marketing. She has maintained a 3.97 grade-point average and currently serves as executive vice president of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, where she coordinates the annual induction ceremony. At the society, she also trains officers on how to perform their duties and coordinates with other organizations to host events on campus. In 2017-18, she was vice president of publications for the society, assisted in increasing campus engagement through the outreach program and strengthened member involvement via social media platforms.

Duraimurugan is vice president of the USF Marketing Association, leading a group of 15 members in creating policies and guidelines, making community connections with local firms through networking and resolving issues as they may arise within the association. She continues to serve a marketing intern for Web Direct Brands.

She placed first in the 2017 Elevator Pitch Competition at the American Marketing Regional Conference and has served as a mentor for Liberty Middle School students, all while being named to the Dean’s List throughout her time at USF.

Emmanuel Fernando Martes’ was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia and moved to the United States when he was 17 years old in order to pursue his dream to study at USF. He has interned with nonprofits and for-profit companies, excelled in his classwork, and is on track to graduate in just three years with a GPA of 3.87. He was elected as one of the seats for the USF legislative branch in student government where he writes resolutions and allocates funds to enhance the USF experience for all students.

Emmanuel graduates in May 2019 with a degree in finance. He has participated in in the Student Managed Investment Fund at USFSP in which he developed a stock report and pitched it to various professionals. He is also a part of the board members for the Financial Planning Association and is a member of the Student Investment Club, the Corporate Mentor Program and others, including the Phi Eta Sigma and the Phi Kappa Phi honor societies.

He also served as a mentor for the Academic, Cultural and Engagement Program at USF, where he guided more than 100 students transitioning into the college experience.

He currently is a financial planning trainee/intern at AXA Financial Advisors in Tampa where he analyzes and creates financial plan reports and analyzes risks in portfolios. In the past, he completed an internship with the Corporation to Develop Communities in Tampa, an organization that oversees real estate projects for low-income residents in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

But it was his experience at AXA Financial Advisors that sparked his interest to pursue a career in financial planning after graduation.

Gregory Klug began his college career studying mechanical engineering at the University of Florida, but left all that behind to embark on an academic career that centered on investments and portfolios at USF. He made the right choice. Inspired by the stories of 25 under 25 honorees two years ago, he set his sights on one day being among this group. His work has paid off.

Klug is set to graduate in May 2020 with a degree in finance, excelling in some of the more difficult courses in the finance department, including financial statement analysis, principles of investments and financial accounting.

He will intern this summer at J.P. Morgan as an analyst and has previously interned at Foresters Financial in the financial services department. In 2017, he started his own business, Carstats4u, an online service that provides car enthusiasts with statistics on more than 200 vehicles. As founder, he was responsible for budgeting for the website that has expanded onto social media sites.

He credits his leadership abilities to coaching soccer at his alma mater, the Carrollwood Day School, where he coached a team of 16 players on the junior varsity squad and assisted the varsity head coach. The experience taught him how to manage time and personnel, leading players through daily drills and game strategy.

Earlier this year, he served as an employer host with the USF Career Services’ Accounting Fair and Bulls Connect Career Fair and will continue as a data and economics intern this semester. He also traveled to the Dominican Republic as a teenager volunteering to teach English to elementary school-age children.

Jessica Kelso’s short three-year college career has provided her with the inspiration, knowledge, and skills she will need to successfully enter the professional business world. Kelso spent the summer of 2017 studying at the University College of London Birkbeck. She also maintained several leadership roles within Zeta Tau Alpha, the Student Finance Association, and the Bulls Business Community.

Majoring in finance, she is set to graduate in May 2019 with recognition as a high-achieving member of the Business Honors Program, Honors College, and Provost Scholars Program. Kelso is graduating in the top 10% of all undergraduate and graduate students at USF, having been inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society.

As part of the USF-Tampa team, Kelso was recently awarded first place at the CFA Ethics Invitational hosted by the CFA Society of Tampa Bay. Additionally, she will present her thesis to the research community at the USF Undergraduate Research Conference in early April.

Kelso’s admission into the Applied Securities Analysis course, an elite program in which only a handful of high-achieving finance students are enrolled, has strengthened her passion for investments. As a student equity research analyst in the Student Managed Investment Fund, Kelso analyzes undervalued equities, presents her stock recommendations to a board of industry professionals, and monitors the fund’s portfolio of $1 million.

During her senior year, Kelso interned at Jaffe Tilchin Wealth Management, where she will begin her professional career upon graduation.

Marina Jankovic’s life has been shaped by advice that her mother gave her when she was just 5 years old. Her family had just emigrated from ex-Yugoslavia and was struggling in their new U.S. home. Her mom said: “The only way you can afford to go to college and have a successful life is if you work harder than everyone else.”

Jankovic took that advice and practiced that mantra through every facet of her life and academic career. She is set to graduate in May 2019, with a dual degree in marketing and mass communications. She maintains a grade-point average of 3.95 and has participated in the Corporate Mentor Program, the Marketing Mentor Program and the USF Honors College. She is a USF Presidential Scholar, a Florida Academic Scholar and a USF Honors Scholar.

Jankovic, for the past three years, has served as marketing coordinator and graphic designer for the USF Marshall Student Center where she designed the 10th anniversary art exhibition and the weekly Takeover Tuesday social media campaign. At one point two years ago, when the marketing manager went on leave, Jankovic took over as interim marketing manager, supervising a marketing team and supporting clients. Jankovic interned at AAA for 11 months, during which she planned and launched multiple marketing plans. She also interned at Ashley Furniture.

She is fluent in Croatian, Bosnian and English and is verbally fluent in Serbian.

 

 

 

Sarah Gimbel is a year from graduating, but she’s already giving back to the USF community. Having received a scholarship at a time of personal crisis that allowed her to start and continue her classes at USF, she has established the Howard Gimbel Memorial Foundation in her father’s name and has raised $3,600 in scholarship money for deserving students of Riverview High School, her alma mater, in 2017.

She plans to do the same this year and expand scholarship opportunities for children of Tampa police officers planning to attend college. Her father, a 20-year veteran of the Tampa Police Department, was killed in a motorcycle accident weeks before she was to start her freshman year at USF.

As president of the foundation, she plans charity events, including an annual sport-clay shooting event; designs all the marketing materials, prepares the annual budget and financials for tax returns. She handles all reporting to be compliant with taxing agencies.

She is set to graduate in May 2020 with a degree in marketing with a concentration in sales and a minor in entrepreneurship and has been on the Dean’s List in the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018.  She serves as the chief marketing officer for the USF Professional Sales Club and placed third overall out of 64 students in the recent Selling with the Bulls Intercollegiate Sales Competition. She also has taken on the responsibility of recruiting new members to the club with classroom presentations and engagement through social media.

She also is a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha-Kappa Sigma chapter, where she serves as vice president of philanthropy and has set this year’s goal to raise $40,000 for breast cancer education and awareness.

Zakaria El Jbari took a job as an intern at the USF Credit Union in 2016 knowing nothing about banking. Two years later, he was managing the Marshall Student Center branch office during the busiest time of the year. The rewarding experience was just one of several that has fallen on the Morocco native.

Now, he’s getting ready to graduate in May 2019 with a degree in finance and a grade-point average of 4.0. He has been named to the Dean’s List since coming to USF in 2015. He currently works as a teaching assistant in the Information Systems and Decision Sciences Department, grading examinations and assignments and holding office hours to take care of student needs.

In his time working for USF Credit Union, El Jbari not only managed the Marshall Student Center branch, but he opened more than 500 new accounts and reached $1 million in money market and certificates of deposit. With his outgoing nature he was named ambassador team leader within the credit union, a role in which he collaborated with management to interview and identify top candidates for the credit union’s internship program.

He is the co-founder and chief of recruitment for the International People of Tomorrow, an organization dedicated to making international students feel at home while offering various involvement opportunities.

He placed second in the 2018 Selling with the Bulls competition for a marketing plan he presented to the Tampa Bay Lightning marketing team.

Henrique Faria Brito Martini Correa knows the value of learning, having come from a long line of educators. His great-grandmother was principal of a public school in Rio de Janeiro and his grandmother founded her own private school where his mother now is principal. The legacy is clear. Education is paramount in this life.

Faria Brito Martini Correa is set to graduate in May 2020 with a dual degree in business analytics and information systems and quantitative economics and econometrics. Last fall, he was inducted into the Order of the Golden Brahman, the most prestigious order of USF, which serves to recognize and engage top student leaders on campus. This semester, he was selected as a USF Ambassador, where he will serve as an official student representative for the USF system. Responsibilities include working alongside the USF systems president and attending presidential events and meetings with USF stakeholders. He also has earned certificates in third-party risk management and global banking both from Citi and was part of an entrepreneurship and innovation summer course at Boston College.

He has participated in the Corporate Mentor Program, the Brazilian Student Association, where he served as vice president of professional development. He was selected to the Dean’s List in the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018.

As director of outreach and access for USF Student Government, Faria Brito Martini Correa assists executive leadership as a liaison between student government, the student body and various organizations. He also served an internship with Brazilian Institute of Economics where he worked with leadership on economic research and helped develop a course big data and data analytics.

Destiney Copeland, a first-generation college student began her college career working three jobs. To say she’s a hard worker would be an understatement, but her efforts are finally paying off. She’s set to graduate in May 2019 debt-free and a year earlier than expected. She is driven and focused and understands the importance of education and hard work.

She is majoring in marketing, been named to the Dean’s List from 2016-18 and was the recipient of the USF Scholars Award along with the William A. Gregory Jr. Foundation Scholarship. She is a member of the USF Business Honors Program and twice received the Chick-fil-A Remarkable Leader Scholarship. She currently attends classes, works as a manager for Chick-fil-A in Tampa and is a team leader at Altar’d State, a fashion retail shop also in Tampa.

Copeland has done mission work in Haiti and volunteered for Feeding America. She served in the summer of 2018 as an intern for Special Olympics headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she worked with leaders to create the 50th anniversary celebration and the 2018 World Games marketing campaign.

Closer to home, she is a Bulls Business Community member where she nourished relationships with first- and second-year students, encouraging a successful transition into college. She worked with Best Buddies International, served as a USF brand representative for Fund the Nation and is involved in her church, where she has helped with the social media sites. As she gets ready to graduate, she considers herself a role model for her younger siblings hoping her path to seek higher level education will be followed by them.

She also is proficient in American Sign Language.

Pietro Carillo is rising fast, having been accepted to serve as an operations summer analyst at Goldman Sachs in Salt Lake City during the summer of 2019. Though his future is unbound, he ties his success to everyone who believes and supports him. All he has, he said, is because of the support of all the people around him, and for that he forever will be grateful.

Carillo will graduate in May 2020 with a degree in finance and business analytics and information systems. He came to the United States from Brazil when he was 18 years old. Then, he barely spoke English and took courses at Hillsborough Community College to get acclimated to the culture and to the Tampa Bay community. He was an active member of the Phi Beta Lambda Business Club and was part of a team that placed second in the financial services category in the 2016 Phi Beta Lambda national competition and first in the emerging business issues category in the 2017 state competition. He also has volunteered for Junior Achievement.

At USF, Carillo was awarded a Latin American and Caribbean Scholarship. He hasn’t forgotten his roots and was the vice president of fundraising for the Brazilian Student Association, a club with about 100 active members. There, he organized social events to engage students and raise funds for the organization.

He serves as a tutor in statistics and calculus and interned twice at the Brasil Plural Bank, once as an asset management analyst and was part of the team that managed more than $1 billion, and a second time as an investment banking analyst, participating in debt restructuring and joint-venture projects.

Delina Aylay is from a homeland who gained independence after a 30-year struggle. She now thrives to better the lives of those around her. Through serving as Resident Assistant, fundraising chair for the African Student Association and mentoring for the Intercultural Student Leadership Conference, USF has allowed her to gain a voice she never knew she had.

She now has a platform from which she can facilitate change both here and abroad. In 2016 she was crowned Miss Africa at the annual ASA Philanthropic Pageant. That allowed her to shed light on the beauty and struggles of Eritrea, and represent the Eritrean Relief Association. She is set to graduate in May 2019, majoring in global business with a concentration in finance.

As a student leader for the Global Citizens Project, alongside an internationally recognized youth ambassador, drafted an initiative “Why Not Us” to promote ideals of global citizenship and civility. She has volunteered at the University Area CDC on an initiative called Block-by-Block, which called on her to reach out to a family and make connections with resources. She later interned there as Community Development and Engagement and Human Resources.

In the summer of 2018, she studied abroad in Florence, Italy, where she reconnected with the language she grew up learning. Aylay is also fluent in Tigrigna, and English. She is the recipient of the Global Citizens Award and the Muma College of Business study abroad scholarship.

She is part of the Corporate Mentor Program, and plans to pursue her MBA in the fall. She hopes one day to utilize all her experiences and passions to work as a Diplomat for Eritrea.

Alexandra Andrlova grew up in the Czech Republic. When she came to the United States, she immediately immersed herself in American culture and soon became a productive member of Tampa’s community. She volunteered at the Lowry Park Zoo (now Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park), where she met, interacted with people and got to know the ins and outs of the local landscape while making new friends all along the way. She now is not only a part of the Tampa fabric, but an integral part of USF and the Muma College of Business as well. 

Alexandra is expected to graduate in 2020 with a degree in accounting.  She currently has an overall grade-point average of 3.98. She picked the major because it will give her a lifelong opportunity to interact with people of different cultures through her career.

She has been named to the dean’s list dating back to 2016.  She is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the Global Citizen Project, the Phi Sigma Theta/National Honor Society and the USF Honors College. She also participated in the USF Emerging Leaders Institute in 2017.

She worked at Citi as a treasury and trade solutions intern and will return to Citi for another internship in the summer of 2019. She has taken summer jobs in her native Czech Republic for a wholesale grocery distributor, a commercial bank, an events agency and a golf club where she was named captain of the women’s golf team. She also has staged golf tournaments for children.