Young Alumni in Transition

By Jill Kasiewicz Caseria, M.A.'04

They graduated from high school at a time when making money seemed easy. All it took was an idea and a Web site. Interest rates were low and dot-coms were booming. Jobs seemed plentiful - especially for creative types - and young entrepreneurs were getting rich, or being paid in stock options. Arriving on Fairfield University's campus in the late 1990s was just a stop on their way to financial success in an "it's all possible" market.

But things got serious, real fast. The dot-com bust. September 11. Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Uncertainty in political leadership. These events, coupled with massive layoffs and a housing bubble on the brink of bursting, have led to very different job market and lifestyle outlook than the one this generation expected. What once was an endlessly deep pool of options had suddenly become as shallow as a puddle.

Graduates in this new millennium have felt the impact of these national and global realities while also grappling with life's expected adjustments: finding a job, moving to a new city, shaping a social life in a new place, stepping off the financial cushion offered by parents, marrying, and having children.

No one promised that any of this would be easy, but these young alumni represent thousands who have risen to the challenge.

Looking back

A sociology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, Marie (Lucien '03) Dormevil feels lucky that she was able to land a job in her field of study just a month after Commencement. "We graduated right when the war in Iraq began," she says. "There was a lot of uncertainty about the future and what would happen to our country." Looking for a job required a lot more work that she realized. "It's a job in itself. You really have to be persistent." She stayed in her first job for a year, working as an assistant house manager for the Society to Advance the Retarded (STAR) in Norwalk, Conn., while simultaneously spending eight months looking for her current position with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) in Bridgeport.

The war was on Keith Moran's mind on graduation day 2003. One of that year's honorary degree recipients was Major (Ret.) Michael Donnelly '81, who developed ALS after his participation in the Gulf War. "I remember watching him receive his honorary degree, and I thought, that could be me. During the ceremony, I wasn't reflecting on my achievements during my time at Fairfield. Instead, I was anxious, thinking about the following Sunday, when I was scheduled to leave for basic training in the U.S. Army." The previous April he had enlisted as a private, knowing that basic training would continue through the summer. As his classmates were planning to head off to Wall Street, he says, he preferred to "go on an adventure, to prove myself, to serve my country. I wanted something more transformative. I expected Army life to provide me with unexpected experiences, and basic training did exactly that."

"Graduation was overwhelming," says Jennifer Roy '03. "After 16 years of knowing what was happening next, when you leave college, you're unsure. The choice becomes yours." Following a trip through Europe with her roommate, Roy started a three-year salaried training program at New York Life. But instead of moving to the Big Apple as she had imagined, she moved back in with mom and dad to save money for a place in the City she really wanted. "It was a transition moving into my old room, especially after living in the townhouses with six friends," she says. At times, she admits, it felt isolating. She commuted every day for two years to Manhattan from Rockland County, N.Y., with her one big expense - a new car.

The one thing Bob Porto '01 remembers commencement speaker Arthur Levitt saying was that the job market and the economy at that time was a little bit worse than it was in 2000. Not an uplifting way to start the summer as a new graduate, but Porto tried to push it to the back of his mind. After all, his yearlong internship had turned into a job. A biology major with minors in environmental science, marine science, and music, Porto was headed to Washington State to continue working for Sound Experience - not a band, but a nonprofit that teaches fourth to eighth graders about ship life and resource conservation.

That summer, Porto lived with staff and crew aboard the historic schooner, Adventuress. "Most of my career-track friends were surprised that I would elect to move into a floating dorm with a bunch of middle schoolers," he admits. But he couldn't pass up an opportunity that melded his interest in the sea and education.

Life today

Colleen (Lamb '04) Ajemian has a new little man in her life: her son, Brian, who was born May 24, 2005, exactly one year after graduating from Fairfield. In addition to marrying, moving to a new city, and starting jobs in their respective fields, she and her husband, Ross '03, are also adjusting to parenthood. Things she took for granted in college - sleeping in, watching a movie with Ross - have taken a temporary backseat.

Married on June 5 - just 12 days after graduating from Fairfield with a degree in marketing - Ajemian worked for an investment-banking firm in Boston until her due date. The transition from classroom to the office was her first adjustment. "As an undergraduate, you get used to doing things on your own time," she says. "I would study, and take a break. When you're working, you have to be 'on' from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It's a much more structured schedule." Not to mention a more structured wardrobe. "I didn't own a suit before I started interviewing," she says. "So I bought one on sale and wore it for all my interviews. I was used to wearing sweatpants; jeans were considered dressing up. But working meant a whole new wardrobe." And pregnancy meant yet another.

Jennifer Roy, who was finally able to move from her childhood home to Manhattan, finds that city life has its tradeoffs. Eating lunch in the company cafeteria may mean having a bowl of cereal for dinner. And the car she bought after graduation? It's at her parents' house. Parking in the City is just too expensive. But as for going out, well, there's always something to do. "We're having fun," she says.

Not necessarily so for Marie Dormevil, who once took her fallen-by-the-wayside social life for granted. "What social life?" she laughs. Between her full-time job at DCF and her graduate classes at Fordham, Sunday is her only day off. "As an undergraduate, all I had to worry about were classes and homework. Although I've always been good managing my money, now there are bills to pay, a savings plan in place for a house of our own, and grocery shopping. Life is not just about you anymore; it's not just about having fun. I miss being carefree," she adds. "As a student, you don't think you're carefree, with all the papers and assignments. And you don't realize how easy it is to have a social life when your friends are right down the hall."

Looking ahead

Bob Porto, now director of education for Sound Experience, finds himself pondering the financial quality-of-life issues for the long term. "I don't have a lot of money in the bank, so I'm not sure how long I can sustain this lifestyle," he says, still hoping for a way to shape his dream job into a realistic lifetime career. In any case, the job has given him a chance to understand who he is and what he wants to be, not to mention an overwhelming sense of satisfaction. "When my parents graduated from college, outdoor education and environmental awareness hardly existed in this form," he muses. "I know I have many more career options than they did at my age - and we looked at work differently - but it's hard to know what to do next." He is considering finishing his master's degree in education and returning to the East Coast to teach in a public school.

Says new mom Colleen Ajemian, "The hardest adjustments have been living six hours away from my mother and working the baby into our schedule. And, of course, I miss my college friends and having free time. But I wouldn't trade what I have now for the world. Yes, it's a lot of work, but being a mom is better that I ever imagined."

Hard work, in whatever form it takes, is a reality these recent graduates have embraced, adjusting to circumstances along the way just as generations before them have done. Few graduates, however, have had to adapt in quite the same way Keith Moran did. In May 2005, while working as an admission counselor at Fairfield University, he received notice that international deployment could be pending. Yes, as a member of the armed services, he had to be prepared to travel at a moment's notice. But his wedding was planned for October. He and his fiancée, Jessica, scrambled to move the date up two months.

While the deployment did not eventuate, the marriage in August did. Today he is in active duty in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., completing a six-month course on platoon officer duties in the Army's Corps of Engineers.

"I am hustling - and so are my fellow classmates," he says. "We are young. We are trying to prove ourselves, to make it - whatever 'it' may be."