After 25 years of working for oral surgeons as an anesthesia assistant, Patricia Jaspers found her true calling and is becoming an early childhood teacher. She graduated from the University on May 18 and received the President’s Award for Student Excellence as the top early childhood development student at the University. Jaspers’ degree now allows her to teach children from pre-kindergarten through second grade, but now she plans to take four more classes this summer so she will qualify to teach in all elementary school grades.

After a variety of internal struggles forced Kingston resident Kalyana Champlain to abandon her second year of studies at URI, she took some time to regroup and returned to school several years later with a strong sense of determination and purpose. As she prepared to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies, Champlain said was looking forward to graduate school and the release of a CD that includes two selections she wrote and performed.

As a boy, Damien Gresko dreamed of playing football in front of 100,000 fans at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium. But in 2004, Gresko came to the University where he played football while he excelled in an entirely different kind of stadium - the classroom. Ranked the top student in the College of Business Administration, Gresko received numerous awards through his years of study and has graduated with a 3.97 grade point average.

Will Simoneau started taking classes at the University at age 13. Six years later he graduated as the top computer engineering student and with the added distinction of being the youngest to earn a URI degree this year. Simoneau enrolled as a full-time student in the spring of 2005 at age 15, he started out as a computer science major but switched to computer engineering because he was more interested in “the nuts and bolts” of computer hardware.

It would have been difficult for Rachael Gately to accomplish much more as an undergraduate. She served as president of the University’s Animal and Veterinary Science Club, received the President’s Excellence Award as the top animal science student , and was awarded a Udall Scholarship, the nation’s most prestigious scholarship for students preparing for environmental careers. To top it off, she won the Outstanding Senior Award at the Northeast Student Affiliate conference at Delaware Valley College last month.

When she was three years old, Jamestown resident Lydia Lis saw a group of students playing violins and immediately decided that she wanted to play violin, too. Nineteen years later she has graduated as the University's top music student. Lis filled her four years at URI with a multitude of performance opportunities. She has been a first violinist for the URI Orchestra, performed in small chamber ensembles, and even was a back-up musician when Grammy-winning recording artist Kanye West performed at URI.

From being a part of the University's cheer leading team her freshman year and a sister of Alpha Phi, Shana Leffingwell said she benefited from many of her campus activities. But even before she arrived on campus Leffingwell was enrolled in Talent Development, the program that helped open doors for her as she made the transition from high school to higher education. Leffingwell said that because the program also provided major financial aide, she worked hard in her classes to show the TD staff that she was truly benefiting from the program. Having graduated with a double major in art and psychology, Leffingwell now is planning to work on her masters degree in art education.

It’s not unusual for college students to repeatedly change their major or arrive on campus without knowing what discipline they want most to study. But Michael A. Zompa never had that problem. "My grandfather is a doctor, my mother’s a nurse, my stepmother’s a nurse,” he said. “I’ve been exposed to the medical field my whole life and I have had so much family support that I’ve never doubted for a moment that I was going to become a doctor." URI's top biology student is well on his way.

Alison O’Malley wasn’t entirely sure what biomedical engineering was before she decided to study it at the University, but she made a good choice. She graduated as the top biomedical engineering student on campus and received a degree in electrical engineering as well. She accomplished all of this while serving as captain of the Ramettes, the University’s varsity dance team that performed at every home basketball game and at other events.

Jill Anderson was filled with doubt and other strong emotions as a freshman softball player at the University. Her mother had died of breast cancer just two months before classes started, and those close to her questioned the wisdom of her choice to enroll at URI as a Division I scholarship athlete. But now, she has graduated at the top of her game.

Maintaining equal focus on school and athletics has never been an issue for Whitney Hollis. As a member of the URI women’s basketball team, she put in many long hours, but was a star in the classroom and on the court. She has graduated with a double major in communications and sociology and will soon start a new job as an account executive with Universal Online Promotions in Manhattan.

When it was time for Michael Segala to come to the University, his whole family came with him. The Segala family left its long-time New Jersey home in 2004 and moved here so his father and brother could also enroll in doctoral programs at URI. At commencement, the youngest Segala was in the spotlight. In addition to receiving bachelors degrees in physics and mathematics, the undergraduate was honored with the President’s Award for Student Excellence as the top physics student on campus.

Student to start computer engineering career in Germany

Johnston resident Joey Micheli describes himself as "the kid on the block who loved computers and helped all my neighbors with their computer problems." Those experiences drove him to study computer engineering at the University. His URI experience also allowed him to indulge his passion for international culture, which has already led to a job offer from a global company based in Germany.

Balancing a full load of classes and 20 hours of training each week -- including grueling 5 a.m. practices -- while maintaining better than a 3.0 grade point average would seem near impossible for some. However, four members of the University's rowing team have done it throughout their careers.

As a high school student, Melissa Holmes played soccer and lacrosse and was very conscious about the importance of nutrition and eating right. But it never occurred to her that eating right could lead to a career. Yet it has. Holmes graduated from the University with a degree in nutrition and dietetics and with a certain pathway to a career as a registered dietitian.

North Scituate native Carl Smith wasn’t entirely certain of his career path after high school. He took some time off, enrolled at the University as a philosophy major, and strongly considered becoming a doctor before changing his major to applied mathematics. In the end, it was a fortuitous decision. As he graduated from URI, he was looking forward to attending Columbia University for graduate school after having been awarded a $121,500 fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

Gabriel "Gabe" Mancuso delivered the student commencement address during URI’s undergraduate ceremonies. A political science and economics major, Mancuso was very involved in a number of student organizations, including as a founding member and the outgoing president of the Pre-Law Society. He also helped develop a volunteer peer tutoring program in conjunction with URI’s Academic Enhancement Center, a service previously unavailable in some political science courses.

Sea turtle fascination led student to research in Mexico

Monique LaFrance developed a passion for sea turtles as a child that only grew stronger when she entered the University and discovered opportunities to study them. After graduation she is looking forward to a marine biology career that will always keep her closely connected to these highly endangered creatures. Her drive to study sea turtles was initially fulfilled in 2006 when she spent a semester studying at the School for Field Studies along the west coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Elka Arredondo has come a long way since moving with her family from her native Colombia in 2000. Despite knowing little English when she arrived in the U.S. as a freshman at Central Falls High School, she graduated from the University as the top student in the kinesiology program. And she is already well on her way to earning her doctorate in physical therapy.

Based on Aaron Hebenstreit’s passport, it appears that he spent much of his college education traveling. And that is exactly why he chose to enroll in the University's International Engineering Program. After graduating with degrees in mechanical engineering and German, he is looking forward to continuing his travels around the world. In addition to studying German and French at URI, he was one of the first URI students to enroll in Chinese language classes in 2005, and he went on a study tour of China in the summer of 2006.

Rather than rent flicks at a local Blockbusters when he was a teenager, Kyle Keough remembers hanging out at the Cumberland Public Library, looking for Japanese films, especially those directed by Akira Kurosawa. As soon as URI offered film media as a major two years ago, Keough signed on. Now he has won the highly competitive President’s Excellence Award in Film Media, which goes to just one top student in each of URI’s departments and programs.

Lisa Marie Carroll grew up in an artistic household and has a portfolio filled with her paintings, drawings and prints. But when she was deciding on a college major, she chose to study textiles because she thought it was a more practical field that would lead to a good job. As she graduated from the University, Carroll ended up with the best of both worlds – an exciting job in the home design field and a once-in-a-lifetime semester in Italy studying art and fashion.

Education major graduates at the top of her class

Newport native Christie Sullivan enrolled at the University to keep her options open. She knew she wanted to study English, but she also wanted a school that had a wide range of other disciplines in case she decided to change majors. She made the right choice, because after taking a few education courses, she decided she wanted to become a teacher. Upon graduation, Sullivan was recognized with the President's Excellence Award as the top education major on campus.

As a child, South Kingstown resident Samantha Petzold developed a strong appreciation for the natural world. But she had no idea that her interest in wildlife could lead to a career. Now it has. After graduating, the former president of the URI Wildlife Society graduated will begin a career as a wildlife biologist. Petzold says she took advantage of every opportunity to gain field experience studying wildlife while at URI. In addition to her research work, Petzold also helped start a student chapter of the Wildlife Society on campus, serving as both president and vice president during her tenure.