"Shortly after graduating from SJU, I moved to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt to study Special Education. I was fortunate enough to acquire federal funding through the program, so my master’s degree was fully funded. While at Vanderbilt, I conducted research for studies and federal grants and I was published as a co-author on one of the studies. I worked as the Research Assistant of the Next Steps at Vanderbilt program, an inclusive higher education program for students with intellectual disabilities. A fun fact I would like to share is that while on Vanderbilt’s campus, I was told to give a tour to a visitor who was a director of an inclusive Higher Ed program in Syracuse, NY; as I was giving the tour, I learned that the director was also a graduate of SJU’s education program. She was so excited to meet a fellow Hawk and provided me with some career advice and networking help; instances like these remind me of how small the world is and why being an SJU grad opens doors to the future."