Ambler Campus, Temple University

The self-described “linear, rational thinker” has always had her eye on the “people side” of the business equation.

“I knew I was a business person. I started with Human Resource Management and then decided to add Risk Management and a minor in Spanish,” said Testa, 23, of Phoenixville. “Employee benefits is one of the functional areas of human resources that has always really interested me.”

Testa, a Dean’s Leadership Award recipient for 2007 and a 2007 competitor in the Fox School of Business Case Analysis Competition, will put her interests to good use right out of the gate.

After she walks in Temple University’s 120th Commencement Ceremony on May 17 and receives her dual degree, she will begin her professional career with a full-time position at Hewitt Associates, where she had previously interned.

“I’ll be working in the health insurance consulting office, which is terrific for me since I’ve always been interested in health care,” she said. “One of my first high school jobs was working at a pharmacy. It is such a changing, dynamic field and it touches everyone.”

Even with the double major Testa has handily maintained Dean’s List status and a more than impressive 3.62 grade point average, all while working in the compensation area of Temple’s Human Resources Department and continuing to have a leadership role in the Ambler campus chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and being a part of Gamma Iota Sigma, the national academic fraternity for risk managers.

“I’m a ‘to do’ list person. I have calendars listing everything that I need to do,” said Testa, who was the president of Ambler’s SHRM chapter for two years and served as the organization’s director of communications and interchapter liaison during her senior year. “It takes a lot of planning. I try to make sure that nothing will catch me off guard and I try to avoid doing anything last minute.”

According to Testa, the “real world” experience of the Fox School of Business professors at Ambler has been invaluable.

“They can take real life examples and apply it to the concepts we’re learning about,” she said. “The business school is one of the most impressive in the region. I came to Ambler for the intimate atmosphere and I stayed because the reputation of the business school, which just keeps growing.”

Becoming involved in student life on campus and student professional organizations in particular, Testa said, additionally helped her to “learn as much as possible outside of the classroom and apply what I was learning in the classroom.”

“Part of being a business person is making professional contacts. With SHRM, I wanted the organization to be about both professional and personal development,” she said. “We’d do fun events or charity programs, such as movie nights, or the tug-of-war, or take part in the Dress for Success Fashion Show, but we also brought in speakers as often as we could to help us as students bridge the gap between college and the working world. Some of the people I’ve had the good fortune to meet and work with are still some of my best friends.”

Temple also afforded Testa the opportunity to participate in several internships. In addition to working for Temple and interning with Hewitt, she also interned with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

“At Hewitt, I interned as a risk analyst, which helped me to determine that I definitely was a business person and definitely a human resource person,” she said. “At Wyeth, I was in the staffing area of HR and I learned that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. That’s what is so helpful about internships, particularly while you’re still in school — they can steer you onto the right path and also let you know what career path might be wrong for you.”

In 2006, Testa was chosen to take part in the LeaderShape Institute, a six-day program held at the Institute in Maryland, after taking part in the Temple University Leadership Challenge, which included courses, seminars, service opportunities, and leadership conferences. Students must earn 50 “Leadership Diamonds” and create a Leadership Portfolio in order to be eligible to take part in the Leadershape Institute.

“We spent the time in groups, which were called families and by the end of the week you really felt that way. We spent time working on team building activities, exploring and testing our biases, and recognizing our strengths and weaknesses,” she said. “I’d have to say it was one of the coolest and most unique experiences of my life.”

The recently completed Fox School of Business Case Analysis Competition was another opportunity to work on team building skills, Testa added.

“The competition stems from the Business Administration capstone class, which all business majors have to take — it’s the accumulation of everything you’ve learned as an undergraduate and applies everything from marketing and accounting to finance and analysis,” she said. “You’re working with students that maybe you’ve never worked with before on a tight timeline. You have to really consider the strengths of each member of the group and work as a team to employ those strengths in the most efficient way.”

Students “have to be willing to put themselves out there if they want to get something back,” Testa said.

“Say hello to the person next to you. In my first year, I went to class and I went home. By the end of the year, I had nothing going on — no friends, no experiences,” she said. “If you’re not involved, going to college is like glorified high school, just without the friends to support you. You have to get those experiences outside of the classroom, for yourself and because it will help to prepare you for the working world.”

In her four years at Ambler, Testa said she has become much more willing to jump right into the fray to hold an event, meet new people, support another organization, or simply help out on campus.

“My grandparents raised my sister and I; my grandmother dropped me off on the first day. I’m so much more open to new things than I ever was and, I think, much more outgoing,” she said. “My experiences at Temple have contributed to making me a much stronger person.”