Melissa Nunez – Opinions and Features Editor
As president of the Future Business Leaders of America in her high school, Anastasia Esposito, a sophomore business major, said that she always knew she wanted to go into the business world.
Esposito said after graduation, as she applied to local colleges, she had the University of Connecticut in her sights, but upon receiving her acceptance she was dismayed to learn that it was to a different branch then she had hoped for. She said that even though it was not her first choice, she ended up coming to Southern.
Esposito said she made a connection with Deborah Fairchild, the assistant director of the Disability Resource Center and when there was a job opening at the center, she was the first to know and started as a student worker at the DRC the second week of her freshman year.
Esposito added she has learned a great deal about disabilities from her work in the DRC and has gained more of an understanding for the perseverant students who excel with them.
“I really love it. I love the interaction between myself and the students. I have another job, I work in retail too,” said Esposito, “and it’s totally different because in retail you say hi and bye to these people but in the DRC you make connections: you take the tests with them, you build relationships with these students and for somebody who didn’t really understand what a disability was and how they are completely just like us in every single way, it is really just eye opening that these students are not only achieving, but achieving with so many more difficulties that are put upon them and they don’t let anything stop them.”
Esposito said she has worked at the DRC for over a year and her roles include manning the front desk and the phones, assisting professors, students, and their families, proctoring tests, being trained as a scribe and more. She said while her work at the DRC may not seem business related, in many ways she believes it is helping her prepare for the business world.
“Eventually I do want to get my MBA and eventually I will end up working in an office,” said Esposito. “I really like getting used to everything that has to do with an office: between the filing, the computer, just having relationships with people in an office on a business level. Although my perspective on the DRC is very student based, there are still a lot confidentiality papers we work with, a lot of doctors we speak to, and a lot of parents we speak to, so there is a large professional level as well.”
Esposito said it was unexpected how much of an impact her work with the DRC has made on the rest of her college experience and she cannot imagine her remaining years at Southern without the connections she has built and continues to build there.
“I think it has given me a lot more drive than I thought I had in me,” said Esposito, “and I think it has really put a huge perspective, in almost like a lifestyle change on my college experience because I have a different outlook on human beings and it makes me want to strive for better.”
[…] Published: December 1, 2016 […]