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.