白兰地酒 校友 Spotlight: 克里斯蒂娜·巴特勒, 2010届毕业生

克里斯蒂娜·巴特勒

克里斯蒂娜·巴特勒.

Credit:克里斯蒂娜·巴特勒

媒体,爸爸. – Fourteen years after earning her bachelor’s degree from Penn State, 克里斯蒂娜·巴特勒, 2010届毕业生, has come back to campus to provide advice for students entering the workforce.

Butler began her Penn State journey at 白兰地酒 in 2006, majoring in English. She said she chose to attend 白兰地酒 because of its proximity to home and its lower tuition costs compared to other universities in the area.

“I had a set of criteria that were important to me when looking at colleges. I was paying for college by myself, so I was on a strict budget. I was also leaning toward starting my college career closer to home so the transition from high school to college would be easier,”她说。. “I still wanted to be connected to my network of family and friends in the area, 所以我有一种非常强烈的想要留在当地的愿望. With all that in mind, I thought 宾州州立大学白兰地酒 would be a great fit for me.”

巴特勒在白兰地酒公司工作期间非常投入, 担任《bck体育官网》的主编, 校园学生办的报纸. She served as a Lion Ambassador and participated in 白兰地酒 Benefitting THON and the Gay-Straight Alliance. 她还在亚历克斯的柠檬水摊做志愿者.

“Being involved in so many organizations was great for me,她说, “as they were great ways to meet people and build skills that I could put on my resume.”

回想起她在白兰地酒的美好回忆, 学生的巅峰, faculty and staff relationships she was able to build comes to mind.

“I feel like I have this assortment of fond memories of hanging out in the Student Affairs office a lot — they were so welcoming. 我会去那里参加不同的活动, 但我也只是想和工作人员聊聊天,她回忆道。. “I also have a lot of great memories of hanging out with my friends on campus. 我们会在足球场上玩飞盘, 如果天气不好, 我们会在下议院大楼里玩老式的电子游戏.”

bck体育官网毕业后, Butler began working in the 白兰地酒 Writing Studio as a writing tutor, and she also taught first-year seminar classes for several years during her tenure. 她渴望在事业上做得更多, 她见到了克里斯汀·艾伦, 白兰地酒的职业服务协调员, who helped her explore becoming a career counselor at a college.

“I always give Christine so much credit because she helped me realize what I wanted to do,巴特勒说.

She then went on to receive her master’s degree in counseling with a higher education focus and worked at a variety of universities as a career counselor until the pandemic put in-person counseling on pause.

“When I began working remotely, I realized I had an itch to do something else,”她说。. “我知道我真的很喜欢科技, so I started researching the tools that career centers use, 以及我目前的工作地点, u连接, 上来. When I saw the company had an open position, I jumped on the opportunity. I knew I could use my transferable skills from my other jobs in this new position. 我在那里待了两年多.”

Butler serves as a senior customer success manager at u连接, 这是一家位于波士顿的教育技术创业公司, 麻萨诸塞州. 在她的角色中, she has a portfolio of universities she’s responsible for, and it’s her job to ensure they see success in using u连接’s products and retain those customers.

“What I love most about my job at u连接 is being able to help colleges and universities help their students,”她说。. “The college and university career centers I work with are doing such important work with their students that often gets overlooked. It’s really rewarding to work with people who also want to help others.”

Butler enjoys staying involved with the 白兰地酒 community. 2024年3月, 她被邀请回到学校参加职业探索周, a week of career-readiness events hosted by the Office of 职业服务. She participated in a communications and English panel with three other 白兰地酒 alumni, discussing what aided them in their success at 白兰地酒 as well as how they ended up in their current fields. They also provided advice to students who are looking to enter the field of communications and writing.

Pursue the things you really like because that will lead you to career paths you’re going to enjoy and find fulfillment in.

——克里斯蒂娜·巴特勒,bck体育官网2010届毕业生

When asked what advice she has for current Penn State students, Butler said they should use their interests as a compass for where they want to end up in the workforce.

“Pursue the things you really like because that will lead you to career paths you’re going to enjoy and find fulfillment in,”她说。. “当我回头看时,这对我来说很有效. 我没有打算从事我现在从事的职业. 我想既然我在大学就业中心工作过, I should try to work with the companies that help those people. They’re still very connected, and I get to bring some of my relevant experiences with me.”