CLASS NOTES
Young Alumna Profile:
Quinn McNeill ’14 By Jones House Intern Alice Irwin ’18
Maggie Loughran ’13 climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge with the Opera House in the background.
studio in Hollywood, working as a Pipeline TD intern. (See photo 2012.) Mitchell Juers wrote, “I just got my papers of recognition as a certified Early Childhood Assistant Teacher in Delaware, and I’m about to go for my next levels of certification!”
2015 Our condolences to Ian Furman, his mother, Amy, and their family on the loss of Ian’s father, Stephen, in May. Steve was a beloved member of the Friends community.
2016 Welcome from the Alumni Office to our newest Class Agents: Andrew Conces, Joslyn Gardner, Drew Pittenger, Demetria Ruhl, and Jessica Saunders.
Former Faculty With a little coaxing from daughter Kelsey ’07, Adrian Burston performed as an extra in OperaDelaware’s production of Falstaff. Adrian played the Innkeeper— “not a big stretch for him,” Kelsey said.
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For Quinn McNeill ’14, life in the Big Apple has been a considerable shift from the close-knit community she enjoyed at Friends. A sophomore studying communication and journalism at New York University, Quinn believes her experience at WFS has helped her to find her place in the city. “My time spent at Friends sort of contrasted with the lifestyle at NYU, but in a good way,” she explained. “Friends taught me how important it is for me to feel a strong sense of community, which inspired me to seek out smaller communities within NYU.” As Quinn has learned, school in an urban setting, especially in a large city like New York, gives students some unique advantages. It presents students with the opportunity to pursue a variety of career options, while still allowing them to have the full college experience. “New York has given me the opportunity to get a ton of real-life experience,” Quinn reflected. “I’m not confined by what I can find on campus because I have New York City right at my fingertips. It has opened up a lot of opportunities to see how my interests are reflected outside of the classroom.”
“My time spent at Friends sort of contrasted with the lifestyle at NYU, but in a good way. Friends taught me how important it is for me to feel a strong sense of community, which inspired me to seek out smaller communities within NYU.”
This school year, her Friends connection helped Quinn to land a coveted internship at MSNBC. The path to her role at MSNBC was facilitated by Friends alumna Jillian Leviton ’08, who had contacted the WFS Alumni office about her work as a recruiter with NBCUniversal. The Alumni office then connected the two, and an internship opportunity was presented to Quinn. Despite having little “real work” experience, Quinn says she was motivated to apply by the encouragement of so many in the Friends community. After several rounds of interviews, she landed the job. Quinn spent her time at MSNBC working with the social media team, helping them run several accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Kik, and Snapchat. She also had the opportunity to write quizzes and articles for MSNBC. “I think working at MSNBC has given me a huge head start on deciding what I want to do,” she said. “Because the internship is so hands-on, a lot of my work makes it on the accounts and website, so I have real proof of what I’m capable of and concrete documentation of my progress.” Quinn is interning at another media company, MTV, this summer and is looking forward to the opportunity. The strong sense of community at Friends has proven invaluable to Quinn as she’s navigated college life in a big city. It has also taught her that, no matter where you are, a Friend is rarely very far away.
Summer 2016 • QuakerMatters
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