The Toaster Celebrates and Says Goodbye to Three of Their Own

As the 2023-2024 school year wraps up, the Toaster prepares to say goodbye and good luck to the three ambassadors graduating this spring. During their time with the Toaster, Shana, Charlie, and Lauren have left a meaningful impact on the space and its community. While saying goodbye is difficult, we’re beyond excited to see what new adventures our grads will find!

Shana is graduating with her BSB (Bachelor of Science in Business) in marketing from the Carlson School of Management! Post-graduation, she’s hoping to explore opportunities in audio or marketing, and especially in creative companies. Outside of school, she also hopes to further pursue her interests, such as making music, traveling,  and learning proper crochet and knitting techniques. And when she’s not engaging with her personal interests, Shana is learning and curating advice for new and current students at the U: “Success isn’t solely about the connections you have, but rather the genuine relationships you cultivate. Instead of seeking advancement through acquaintances, prioritize getting to know others because of a sincere desire to connect.”

As our first graduate from the College of Science and Engineering this year, Charlie is earning his BS in mathematics on the actuarial science track, and a minor in statistics! After graduation, he’s interested in professionally pursuing financial data analysis; on the hobbyist end, he’d love to connect his passions for math and sports by doing stats for an MLB team. (“But for just a random project I want in the future, I feel like it’d be pretty sick to learn how to play the piano or guitar,” he also tells me.) After his four years with the U, Charlie

honestly tells me that he’s had his fair share of classes where he could’ve gotten a better grade if he took more time to study, but offers some anecdotal advice from that. “Study hard but don’t let school be your entire life—the important part is finding a balance,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean you can slack on classes.”

And our final Toaster grad Lauren, our second grad from CSE, is graduating with her BS in biomedical engineering with a focus on cell and tissue engineering! This semester,

she’s been connecting her biomedical engineering major to a project for the MVP Challenge; Lauren and her team have been redesigning the otoscope, the device to examine ears, to make it more pediatric-friendly. And starting this summer, she’ll work at Abbott in the Structural Heart Division. As she closes out her year, Lauren’s advice is to try new things and figure out what you like. She expands, saying, “ You might stumble upon a student organization or community of people that you end up building lasting friendships with.”

Professionally and personally, we wish our three Toaster grads (and the rest of the class of 2024) the best of luck!