Written by Marie Kane |
Photos by Emily Clark

Another Middlesex student and Morgan graduate, Emily Clark, is a finance major. She doesn’t think there’s a specific reason behind why that is, but, according to Emily,  “after taking a couple business classes (accounting and personal finance) it sort of just clicked that business was the one topic that held my attention.”

Emily said, “I think there’s a weird stigma around community colleges. Everyone just puts that option to the side, but if you’re trying to be in as little debt as possible, it’s the best route to take.” She chose Middlesex out of the other CT community colleges because it’s the easiest drive for her.

There are pros and cons to the commute for her, but it’s worth it. She said, “It’s nice to be able to come home and not have to worry about any distractions when I need to get work done. However, it also kind of sucks that in order for me to have a social life when everyone’s at school, I have to drive to another school.”

Although she goes to a community college, Emily still has a good amount of freedom: “I make my class schedule, and I can decide if I’d rather sleep in every day or if I’d rather go in early and get out early.”

Emily felt very prepared to graduate: “I think Morgan helped me become more independent throughout my four years there. I walked out more confident and being able to advocate for myself.” Although living with her parents at home, she does take care of everything on her own, “Whether it’s school related, or if it’s me taking care of my own appointments, bills, insurance, etc.”

However, she does wish that she had a more realistic view of the workload in college. She explained how usually seniors are used to a small workload for the last year of high school. Emily wishes she put herself in the right mindset to understand that college was going to be more work.  She said, “If I comprehended that before going into my first semester, then I most likely would’ve been a lot less stressed.”

She described college as new and high school as fast.  She said,  “I don’t think I feel very different between then and now.  The whole idea of me actually being out of high school hasn’t fully set in yet, but I think that’s because I don’t live at school.” Emily misses walking down the hall, recognizing everyone’s face: “Starting over at a new school is hard when we’ve all grown up together from kindergarten to senior year.”

If Emily could go back to high school, she said that she would probably get involved in different things.  She said, “I stuck to mainly just the cheer team throughout high school, and if I had decided to try new things, I would’ve been able to interact with more people.”

Emily loves guidance counselor Joni Capobianco and mathematics teacher Stephanie White (now Mrs. Zdunczyk and Mrs. Davis), but she definitely thinks that business teacher Ryan Richitelli’s classes helped her out a lot. She said,  “His classes are what helped me realize that business was an interesting topic for me.” Mr. Richitelli (aka “Rich”) would also be there as a comedic relief when Emily was getting frustrated, as he is for many students who know him.

In ten years, Emily would like to be out in North Carolina with a masters in finance. She shared advice for the Class of 2019 concerning their current and future lives.  She advised them not to take any of this time for granted. Because of how fast it went by, senior year was Emily’s favorite year in high school. She said, “There’s so many ‘lasts’ that this year brings, and it’s all bittersweet, but make every moment count. Spend as much time together as possible.”