Bobbi and Bob Vitito
this is what I want to do, and I actually do like this.” She’s good at it, too. “She has produced a very nice example of undergraduate scholarship,” Trump said, and he is not the only one who thinks so. “The quality of her work was affirmed when the chair of the Popular Culture Association’s undergraduate section selected her essay for presentation at the 2013 national conference.” Giordano traveled to Washington, D.C., in March to present her thesis, joining leading scholars in the field of American culture. She also received SVSU’s Hoffman-Willertz scholarship as the history department’s outstanding student. Looking back, Giordano now sees her sports setbacks as “a blessing in disguise.” Her ultimate goal is to become a college professor, but first she wants to return to the tennis court—she has remained on the team throughout—and after another surgery in December, she is rehabilitating and making progress. Giordano seeks two sets of opponents for her senior year: college tennis players and graduate school
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admissions requirements. She’ll attack both with tenacity and with an added boost of confidence courtesy of the Honors Program.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO GROW IN BUSINESS
SVSU introduced two new distinctive programs for business students this academic year. One of them is Cardinal Business Edge, which is comprised of 25 freshmen in the College of Business & Management. Students are selected competitively based on interviews, high school GPA and college test scores. They spend much of their first two years together in class and in a variety of unique extracurricular opportunities. The program features mentoring to help students gain team-building and leadership skills. Tom Sutherland, an economics major from Carsonville, credits this element with enhancing his acclimation to college. “It helped me hit the ground running and make a seamless transition,” he said. “I’ve already grown as a leader and a team player. I’ve begun developing networks with major business leaders and organizations,
and I’m not even through my first year.” In addition to meeting with leading business professionals, students also receive a travel stipend to use toward faculty-led international travel experiences. In addition, those who live on campus can opt to reside in affinity housing reserved for Cardinal Business Edge students. The curriculum includes a onecredit laboratory course, and that has provided the biggest benefit to Cate Yankley, an international business major from Fenton. “Our special classes are great,” she said. “I am a discussion-based learner, so when our professors give us a chance to share our own ideas or perspectives on a topic, it allows me to improve relating to other people.” Despite having less than a year of college under her belt, Yankley already sees the payoff to her future career. “Forming relationships with different types of people plays a major role in business, so practicing these skills so early in my college career is truly a ‘business edge.’”