By Cissy Ming and Eric Xue, Copy Editor and News Editor
From March 7 to 9, over 30 individuals will be visiting Conestoga as part of the annual Career Days to introduce themselves and talk about what they do. Among them this year are nine professionals who work in careers which do not have representatives presenting every year or even in the entire history of Career Days. These careers range from genetic counseling to video game design to financial services.
Justin Aquilante – Event Management
Name: Justin Aquilante
Occupation: President and co-founder of ProServe
Background: Aquilante grew up around his uncle’s catering business, developing a love for planning and organizing events. After playing college baseball, Aquilante became a sports agent, traveling across the country to recruit promising talent for professional football and baseball teams. He founded ProServe in 2005 with help from his wife, Kim Aquilante.
Quote: “One of my favorite things (about the business) is that it allows us to score some really out of the box ideas when it comes to events and really put new ideas into play and see it come to life. (Having my own business) is a 24/7 lifestyle in terms of your clients constantly e-mailing you or you have employees you have to make sure are okay.”
Cerena Coughlin – Law Enforcement (FBI)
Name: Cerena Coughlin
Occupation: Special Agent and Chapter Coordinator of Infragard in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Division
Background: Coughlin has 12-plus years of experience in the FBI with previous placements in Baltimore and Los Angeles. A former counterterrorism agent, she also worked on crimes involving children as part of Los Angeles Innocent Images Taskforce, which combats child pornography and online child predators.
Quote: “Being an agent is a daily challenge, whether it’s solving the puzzles of a case or trying to figure out the next best steps of an investigation. It requires flexibility. If you’re not sure this job is right for you, the best advice is to find something that you enjoy and feel competent doing. You’ll be a much better candidate coming to us as a healthy, well-rounded individual.”
Jenn Hartmann – Chiropractic
Name: Jenn Hartmann
Occupation: Chiropractor at Strafford Chiropractic and Healing
Background: As a high school athlete, Hartmann appreciated the healing benefits of chiropractic for sports-related injuries. She studied sports nutrition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, intending to become a dietician, but later felt drawn to the chiropractic field and subsequently earned her certification to become a chiropractor.
Quote: “The best part about my job is that we can make such a powerful change in people’s daily activities through diet, exercise, stretching and massage therapy. Communication and interpersonal skills are the most important qualities for chiropractors to have, to be able to communicate with their patients and other healthcare practitioners about their care.”
Fred Moesler – Chemical Engineering
Name: Fred Moesler
Occupation: Chief Technology Officer at Renmatrix
Background: After graduating from the University of South Dakota with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Moesler worked as a specialist in biochemical production at Dow Chemical, where he worked on developing natural pesticides. He also served as lead engineer for Nature Works, LLC., a company that produces bioindustrial polymers, and Vice President of Engineering at Rennovia.
Quote: “I often say that (my job) is not for the faint of heart, but it’s more for the adventuresome. And adventure can come with great gains as well as terrifying failures. It makes for an interesting environment. Our approach is completely different than anybody else’s, so we’re constantly discovering new things.”
Jamie Mushlin – Genetic Counseling
Name: Jamie Mushlin
Occupation: Genetic Counselor at Main Line Health
Background: Mushlin evaluates the cancer risk of current cancers patients and at-risk individuals given their family histories. After receiving test results, she offers recommendations on how to minimize chances of developing cancer or worsening the disease.
Quote: “I like that (genetic counseling) is a combination of medicine and genetics and counseling. It’s stressful because you’re talking to patients who have cancer and that’s not always so easy. Sometimes results may take a long time, or there’s just not enough time to get your work done before the end of the day.”
Tom Roesch – Physician’s Assistant
Name: Tom Roesch
Occupation: Physician’s Assistant at Main Line Health
Background: A former firefighter and paramedic, Roesch became a physician’s assistant after earning his master’s degree at Arcadia University (then Beaver College). He worked in cardiac surgery for 14 years, specializing in patients with additional circulatory system diseases that complicate operations. Currently, he focuses on thoracic (chest area) surgery, splitting his time between three hospitals in the Main Line Health Network.
Quote: “The job of any medical provider is to set the body up in the best way possible to help itself. It’s kind of like juggling bottles. If you do it well, everything works out fine, and if you don’t do it well, things can happen that you don’t intend.”
Tony Rowe – Video Game Designer
Name: Tony Rowe
Occupation: Adjunct Professor of Game Design and Production at Drexel University
Background: Rowe began his career in game design at WayForward Technologies after graduating from the Institute of Computer Technology and studying character animation at the California Institute of the Arts. He worked on the Star Wars: Force Unleashed and Indiana Jones series for LucasArts, winning an E3 Tech Demo Award for his contributions to “Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.” He assumed his current position at Drexel in September 2015.
Quote: “Often game development means a lot of long hours putting in our work, but you make people happy for a living. You’re creating fun for people to experience, it’s a lot of work to do that, but when you do it and do it right, it’s very rewarding to put in all those hard hours of work, all those late nights.”
Mike Sorber – Professional Soccer Coach
Name: Mike Sorber
Occupation: Professional Assistant Soccer Coach at Philadelphia Union
Background: Sorber began his soccer career at St. Louis University. After college, he played on the U.S. national soccer team for two years, including in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He has also played first division soccer in Mexico and Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States. Now retired from MLS, Sorber became an assistant coach for Philadelphia Union in 2014.
Quote: “Anytime you do something you love, it’s not really a job. (In my position), you’re trying to build something special in the city that you work in and you’re trying to create a club that really has an elite tradition.”
Cissy Ming can be reached at [email protected].
Eric Xue can be reached at [email protected].
