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Carol Muñiz had her calendar marked in heavy black pen — May 20, 2004. That would be the day that she walked with her fellow graduating seniors at Temple University’s 117th Annual Commencement Ceremony at the Liacouras Center.
She’d sit there with her husband and children, listen to University President Dr. David Adamany, laugh at Bill Cosby, and walk toward the stage when her name was called, finally proving that all of the hard work was not a dream.
Carol wasn’t just down to days. She could count it in classes and assignments and one detour to pick up her cap and gown.
“I have two more actual classes, then one exam in Spanish and one paper,” she said with anticipation. “There’s a real sense of achievement now — I could have quit at any time I wanted to. I have had so much camaraderie with my fellow students, with my friends in the student organizations, that there was no way I could give up.”
Carol said the support of family, friends, and fellow students has been crucial to her.
“I think we fed off of each other’s energy. I’d say I wanted to drop a class and the other students would say ‘don’t do that, see it through’ and that was all I needed to carry on,” she said. “My kids and my husband have been supportive from day one. My husband has been taking days off and half days just to be there for me at awards events and graduation. And of course my kids are happy to get the day off to attend my graduation.”
Of course the last few weeks of the spring semester were no simple cakewalk.
“Business and Ethics is complete; that ended with a final paper and presentation. I looked at the ethical issues involved in 401K plans,” Carol said. “Is investing 100 percent in company stock ethical? If you look at Enron as an example, employees invested their retirement fund in the company and were left with nothing.”
In her Business Policies capstone class, a final paper was also looming.
“This is a class that all business majors have to take. Our team projects were based on Harvard business cases,” Carol said. “In our case we were to determine whether a business, Crown, Cork, and Seal, should merge with a European company or not. You look at the positives and negatives, use the facts that you are given at the time, and present your case.”
Business Policies students from Ambler and the Main Campus also had the opportunity to take part in a “case competition,” said Carol, where the prizes ranged from $250 to $1,000.
“It’s a similar type of case as the class assignment. You prepare a paper or presentation, the teacher chooses the best and then they are presented to business people during an event at the Main Campus and they chose the winners,” she said. “Of course that’s something you can put on your resumé. One person from the team makes the presentation at Main Campus. They begged me to do the presentation downtown, but I couldn’t because of other time commitments.”
Time is something that has always been in short supply for Carol but somehow she has managed to keep the wheels of school and home life running smoothly, even with the presidency of an active student professional organization thrown into the mix.
“We held our final social for the members of SHERM (Society for Human Resources Management) on May 5 for current and graduating members of the organization,” she said. “We also transitioned over to the new president and vice president. I handed over the reins.”
As an organization, SHERM garnered a Special Achievement Award at the 13th Annual Temple University Ambler Student Leadership Awards Ceremony for its highly successful seminar on “Corporate Philanthropy,” which packed Bright Hall during the fall semester. The Special Achievement Award is presented to recognize a specific program or event sponsored by a student or organization during the academic year that has had a positive impact on the students’ experience at Temple University Ambler.
“The fact that we had a large crowd cemented my view that students want to work for companies that are involved with their communities, that are involved in philanthropic endeavors,” Carol said. “Our panel was also well known to the audience — Comcast, State Farm, Commerce Bank. When you have a known company talking about a topic, you’re more likely to identify with it.”
During the Student Leadership Ceremony and the Ambler campus Academic Award/ Special Achievement program, Carol was also recognized for her dedication inside and outside of the classroom. Carol received the Mary Wald Banking and Finance Scholarship, which is presented to a student who has made an outstanding contribution to one of the Fox School of Business student organizations at Ambler during the school year; a Dean’s Leadership Award, presented to students for outstanding academic and extracurricular achievement at Temple University Ambler; and an Ambler Collegial Assembly Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement, an award presented to a graduating senior who has set an example of outstanding academic achievement at Ambler.
Humble in her success, Carol chalks up the recognition to Ambler’s faculty and administration having “a face to put with the name.”
“I think to truly achieve something during your time in college, you can’t just do it academically. You have to take advantage of the opportunities you are presented with,” she said. “You have to get involved. Get to know the people on campus and let them get to know you.”
Looking back, Carol said, there were at times moments of doubt as to whether she’d ever complete her degree.
“I did start wondering if I’d ever get there. Now that I’m finally here, the acknowledgement makes it all the sweeter — it sets the bar higher for my own kids,” she said with a smile. “Now it’s like a whole new stage of life has opened up. I’ve been in school for six years, now I’ll have to wake up every day and go to work. The dog is going to miss those afternoon walks.”
This is the fourth part of an “A Year in the Life” feature on Carol Muñiz. Carol, 44,graduated with a degree in Human Resource Management at the time of the series.
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