Katherine Facenda '23: The Smile Architect
Katherine’s foray into biology might seem an unlikely one for a future dentist.
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During Christine's time at Emmanuel, her internships at Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as her cocurricular activities, “confirmed my strong calling to help people and made me comfortable in speaking to people from all walks of life.”
Her coursework in adult psychopathology and child psychopathology allowed her to study abnormal cognition and behavior through the lens of social norms and constructs, offering a broader perspective of the human experience. “In a clinical sense, I gained so many skills in terms of diagnostic and assessment techniques, but our faculty also made us aware of the need for more compassion for those who have mental disorders,” she said.
With an internship in Boston Children’s Hospital’s trauma department already on her resume, Christine spent her senior year serving as an intern for the volunteer and family services team at nearby Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. There, she worked directly with patients and caregivers and facilitated the distribution of resources on the non-clinical side of care, including building the online resource library, filming instructional videos, hosting webinars, and serving as a feedback liaison between patients and senior leadership. In addition to building her professional network of social workers, nurses, doctors and senior leadership at Dana-Farber, she learned what it means to make an impact within a team and in the workplace.
Christine’s co-curriculars also shaped her time on campus, and the person she grew into. As an admissions ambassador, she was able to master public speaking. As a resident assistant, she learned how to mediate conflict, counsel peers and assess situations professionally and compassionately. And as an Alternative Spring Break Leader, she further explored a key competence needed for her intended career—that all persons inherently have meaning, purpose and value. “People have dignity and that dignity deserves to be consistently affirmed. I now know how to build a community where all feel welcome, appreciated and valued.”
After graduation, Christine began pursuing a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College, and is also serving as a graduate assistant in the Office of Student Engagement.
Katherine’s foray into biology might seem an unlikely one for a future dentist.
As a future educator, Jonathan understands there is a lesson to be learned in everything.
For career inspiration, Erin looked no further than her family of first responders and their calling to “help people on their worst days.”
During the Fall 2022 semester, MacDonald and her research team of psychology majors Madeline Bradley ’23 and Matthew Lemansky ’23 (pictured) investigated the lived experiences of participants in an 8-week mindfulness training program.
One transformative high school law class changed Alyssa’s college plans from STEM to political science.
Nick grew up in a family of medical professionals—his mother and grandmother are both nurses and his father is a paramedic. “I’ve always been surrounded with medical jargon and stories of health incidents, crises, and the rewarding benefits of providing care,” he said.
Emmanuel College is one of 140 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 to $500,000 each through the Cummings Foundation’s $25 Million Grant Program.
Counseling & health psychology major Christine came to Emmanuel knowing she wanted to pursue a career in health care, and the College’s opportunities and connections for students interested in the field—as well as a neuroscience course she attended at EC Incoming—made the decision an easy one.
When asking secondary education and biology double major Angela Girodier '22 if she’s more passionate about research or teaching, she quickly and emphatically says “both.”
From an early age, Campbell Shealy '22 was interested in two things—living in a big city and numbers.
One way that people’s body dissatisfaction is socially expressed is through engaging in negative conversations with friends regarding how unhappy they are with their bodies.
The role of the youth violence prevention streetworker is a critical and an often-overlooked component of juvenile violence intervention strategies in major cities across the U.S.
Emmanuel is a place where students broaden their sense of what’s possible and prepare for inspiring careers in an ever-changing world. Be here.
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