Luke Kasitz - A Life Lived for Others

Self-centered. Egotistical. Selfish. 

With a more than impressive 3.78 grade point average, graduating Landscape Architecture senior Luke Kasitz surely knows the meaning of these words. He has simply never put any of them into practice.

To his core, Kasitz has centered his life on community service, helping others, and bettering humanity and is directing everything he has learned — inside the classroom and out — towards that goal. Kasitz has no interest in ruling the world, he just wants to make it a little better than how he found it.

“I know the value of beauty in life, whether it’s a flower or a smile. Just from my experiences, the good and the bad — I’ve learned so much from the hurt that life can bring — that I want to help show others how to live life to the fullest,” said Kasitz, who will receive his Landscape Architecture bachelor’s degree after a distinguished four years at Temple University Ambler on May 17. “I want to use what I’ve learned in Landscape Architecture environmentally, aesthetically, and politically. Beauty can change lives, it can change communities.”

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Maleeka Scott - Fulfilling a Promise to Herself

Maleeka Scott had it all mapped out — a five-year plan.

“In the beginning, I started as a non-matriculated student because I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with a degree — my goal was just to complete it. I didn’t start college right out of high school; I went to a trade school for computers and then worked in temporary positions,” said Scott, 30, of Philadelphia. “I was working as a temp at Temple University Ambler and they decided to keep me — I was hired in December 1997 — which was a blessing.”

Scott, who has been the campus Data Coordinator for 10 years, said she began classes right after she started working at Ambler.

“I was about 19 or 20 then. First I started looking at a sociology degree, then a business degree. I started with Management Information Systems, but that was only offered during the day at the Main Campus — Human Resource Management seemed like the best fit,” she said. “I had it all worked out, a five-year plan to have my degree by the time I was 25.”

Of course, to borrow from John Lennon, life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

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Joshua Meyer - Planning for the Future By Protecting the Past

Just days from graduation, Joshua Meyer has his mind on his future. That future, however, is firmly rooted in the past.

After receiving his degree in Landscape Architecture on Thursday, May 17, walking in Temple University’s 120th Commencement Ceremony and participating in the Ambler College Diploma Ceremony back at the Ambler campus that follows, Meyer will be returning to his home state of Maine to place an historical spin on an important landscape.

“This summer I will be working at McLaughlin Garden in South Paris, Maine. I’ve been an amateur gardener all of my life and I really wanted to get my hands in the mud, I wanted to be involved in horticultural work and really learn about the plants,” said Meyer, 22, who is originally from South Portland, Maine. “I will be helping to create a master plan to maintain the integrity of the gardens and restore them to their 1840s character. The location has an historic home and barn, about four acres of gardens, and the largest collection of lilacs in the state.”

His ambition, Meyer said, is to “practice as a landscape architect,” with a specialization in historic sites.

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Elizabeth Lewis - A Love of Learning, A Passion for Teaching

There are few better traits for a teacher to have than a love of learning and 2007 Temple University Ambler graduate Elizabeth Lewis has that trait in abundance.

“I view myself as a lifelong learner, that’s what drew me to teaching as a profession. I want to share that love of learning with others,” she said. “I’ve been able to student teach in Mattison Avenue Elementary School and Shady Grove Elementary in the Wissahickon School District, which has proven to me that I’m on the right path.”

Lewis, 22, originally from Hellertown, is actually on two parallel paths to achieve her teaching goal. When she walks in Temple University’s 120th Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, May 17, she will be receiving not one, but two degrees — Elementary Education-Early Childhood and Elementary Education-Special Education.

“More and more, school districts are ensuring that special needs students are included in regular classrooms. It is important — and makes me more appealing as a teaching candidate — to have a background in both,” said Lewis, recipient of a Dean’s Leadership Award and Ambler Collegial Assembly Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement for 2007. “You have to start thinking early on what you can do to set yourself apart.”

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Nicole Testa - Working on the "People Side" of Business

Nicole Testa never saw herself as someone who would be crunching numbers.

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.

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