In less than a week, many Sinclair students will celebrate their accomplishments during the Commencement Ceremony held at University of Dayton Arena on Friday, May 5.
Among those students is Colleen Skiles, a Multimedia Journalism major and former intern for The Clarion. She assisted with several projects here, including making graphics for social media. Working with The Clarion allowed Skiles to get experience and “meet new people.”
Being the first of her siblings to graduate college and a first-generation Flyer, Skiles expressed that she is “excited” about graduating. She will be transferring to the University of Dayton as a Communications major.
During our interview, Skiles emotionally spoke of the difficulties she experienced prior to college. She would often suffer from extreme amounts of stress and spend long nights completing assignments. For Skiles – like many others – graduating college is a big deal. She will be graduating with Honors!
The graduate also began her college journey in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was also working over 40 hours a week at the time. However, that experienced motivated her.
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Skiles has been connected to technology from a young age, and her college career has only made her want to be more “hands-on” with it, especially in her time at The Clarion. She has a strong desire to continue to build her skillset.
The last few semesters have been “jam-packed” for Skiles. She’s been working to save up money for university and setting goals for things like internships.
One thing that has helped Skiles in the transfer process is knowing how many resources are available both at Sinclair and UD. Reaching out to her professors and academic advisors has been an asset and she encourages others to do the same.
She seems to mimic the advice of other students, faculty, and staff: connections are important.
Skiles said that she would “highly recommend” Sinclair to students who may not be quite ready for university life yet.
The Clarion wishes Colleen the best of luck in her future endeavors! Thank you for your contributions to student media.
Carly Webster
Staff writer/Project manager