Jennifer Gilbert - Landscape Architecture is a Family Affair

For Jennifer Gilbert, landscape architecture isn’t a singular endeavor. You won’t find her find her at a site location, mapping it out on her own. She won’t be found insolated in a corner of a design studio working on a project by herself.

When Gilbert, 36, entered Temple’s Landscape Architecture program at the Ambler Campus, she brought her entire family along. Her husband Edward, who she affectionately calls “Bud,” two children and three step-children — Amanda, 21; Veronica, 20, Nicholas, 18, Marissa, 14, and Grace 13 — never have to wonder what she’s up to.

“My husband is my biggest supporter and has taken on a lot of responsibility with the kids — and everybody is proud of Mom. We’re doing this as a family; they’re included in everything,” said Gilbert, who will graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture on May 13 and will have her entire family present for the School of Environmental Design Graduation Ceremony. “They know all of the studio projects I’m working on; they’re often in the studio with me and come along on study analyses. They know all of the other students in my class by name.”

Daughter Marissa also has an interest in following her mother into the profession, though she might take a more direct path. It could certainly be said that Gilbert took the “scenic route” before arriving at landscape architecture as her life’s avocation.

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Julia Padabed - A Leap of Faith into Accounting

One month from now, Julia Padabed will mark the 10-year anniversary of her immigration from Minsk, Belarus, to the United States, a trip that required a great deal of determination and faith by not only herself, but her loved ones.

“I had finished three years at a pedagogic university when my (then boyfriend, now husband) Alexei and I had the idea to spend a few months in America for the cultural experience. It was a shock to my parents initially that I wanted to go — I had no American language skills and I thought the trip might be too expensive,” said Padabed, 29. “My parents, however, gave me all of the money they had saved in their entire lives so that I could come to America. I thought, ‘My God, my parents must really trust me! They live in the States now with us.”

Their trust was well founded. Padabed will graduate with honors on May 13 at Temple’s 123rd Commencement Ceremony with a degree in Accounting from the Temple Fox School of Business and Management and an astounding 3.98 grade point average.

“I actually never thought accounting would be the field for me; in Belarus I was studying psychology. My mother was a controller and all my life told me to go into accounting — numbers are numbers no matter where you are after all — but I never believed I wanted to,” she said. “Once I decided to give it a go, however, I discovered a truly liked it.”

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Grant Folin - Third Time's the Charm

Grant Folin is a Temple triple threat.

When Folin graduates with a BS in Horticulture on May 13, he’ll be able to place the diploma next to his BS in Spanish and Master’s in Education, also from Temple. When he decided to make it a Temple “threepeat” and return to the classroom after 10 years working as a Spanish teacher and trying his hand as a professional photographer, he felt the Ambler Campus was the right fit.  

“It seemed that if I was going to jump off that cliff and see where it took me, then this was the place to do it,” said Folin, 40, who will graduate with a 3.94 grade point average. “Since I had my core courses out of the way, I could focus on what I loved to do — being in the garden and learning about plants.”

Finding his true passion, however, took a little bit of searching.

“After five full years of teaching Spanish at three schools in the Philadelphia School District, I found that, while I loved the students, it didn’t really fit my vision of who I am as a person,” Folin said. “At that point I thought I might explore my fascination with photography as a possible new career path — I also worked as a bartender to pay my rent. I discovered photography is a very competitive and very expensive field just to break into and I wasn’t ready to work 60 to 80 hours a week just to try to get my name out there. It was great experience, but I realized, again, that it didn’t feel right.”

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Melissa Kim - Planning Her Future

Melissa Kim is no stranger to Temple University classrooms.

In 2003, she graduated with a JD degree from the Beasley School of Law after having completed a BA in Political Science at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Even while attending law school, however, her interests kept taking her back to a passion for planning and design that began years prior.

“I grew up in Fort Lauderdale in the 1980s and 90s at a time when the area underwent enormous change and rapid growth. There were developments being built in the Everglades, the demographics were changing rapidly,” said Kim, 34, who will graduate May 13 with an MS in Community and Regional Planning. “I was aware of all the changes taking place around me and I was particularly interesting in why they were taking place. In college, I focused on political science and art history, but I always kept that interest in architecture and design — urban planning merges those two interests.”

After graduating from Amherst, Kim became involved in City Year in Chicago as an AmeriCorps volunteer.

“I was always interested in the social order and the built order of things, which I had studied about from an academic, theoretical perspective. Urban planning, however, has a concreteness to it, a practical dimension that I really like,” she said.

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Shadina John - Building Connections for Her Students

Shadina John is barely out of the classroom as a student, but she already knows what she wants to do in front of the classroom when she puts her newly minted BA degrees in Early Childhood Education and African-American Studies to the best possible use.

“I’ve always wanted to work with children. My goal is to work one-on-one with children with special needs,” said John, who will walk in Temple’s 123rd Commencement Ceremony on May 13. “When I came to college, I originally studied child psychology, but I discovered that I wanted to work on a different side of the spectrum, to help children directly.”

It was working at a daycare center for the Hebrew Educational Society that focused her interest on helping children with special needs.

“I originally started as a summer camp counselor, then a trip coordinator, working with children ages three to five — essentially the earliest side of early childhood education. When I was a freshman I continued to work at the Hebrew Educational Society and I was particularly drawn to the students with special and emotional needs,” she said. “Some people would get frustrated, and the children pick up on that. I wanted to relate to them — I wanted to develop an understanding of their needs — and I spoke with them in a way that they understood I was there to help them. Even now, as an assistant teacher in East Falls, I take every opportunity to interact with students with special needs.”

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Joseph Shriver - Student Leading By Example

Joseph Shriver looks at a clock in the way a military leader examines a battlefield map — strategically planning where he should place his greatest resources and when.

It’s an essential trait for a 22-year-old finishing up his degree in Elementary and Special Education (with a Spanish specialty), student teaching, working multiple jobs to pay for school, and leading the Ambler Campus Student Government Association — a position he’s tackled for two years in a row.

“I look at the day as blocks of time — I think that goes back to when my high school (Christopher Dock in Lansdale) transitioned to block scheduling,” said Shriver, of Blue Bell, who will walk in Temple University’s 123rd Commencement ceremonies on May 13. “I’ve always needed to schedule my courses strategically, mapping out when the courses are offered and when to take them — I planned my course schedule three years in advance. For multiple semesters, I took six classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which provided me with opportunities to work and complete my homework — you have to prioritize what is most important on any given day.”

Shriver was attending classes for less than a year at Temple University Ambler when he decided to experience the University beyond the boundaries of the classroom. Deciding to run for Ambler Student Government President, he put together a slate — “Owlocation” — and conducted a successful campaign focusing on trying to bring improvements to the campus that would benefit the students.

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