Accounting Major
Kingston, Jamaica
Focused, self-possessed, and determined, Syrena Shirley doesn't hesitate to take on leadership roles. As president of her school's environmental club in Kingston, Jamaica, she wrote an essay explaining how environmental change affects small island nations and won a trip to the Netherlands for an international conference. She's brought that extraordinary level of motivation to Ithaca College, where she has packed her schedule--already crowded with accounting classes and work for Information Technology Services--with terms as a student justice, resident assistant, and president's host. Taking the reins at organizations comes naturally to her: "As a freshman, I volunteered for the Deans' Host phonathon. The next year I was coordinator of the phonathon, and the year after that I became chair of the organization."
So when she discovered in her freshman year that one seat on the Ithaca College Board of Trustees was reserved for a student, she knew she wanted it--despite the rather daunting application process, which included composing a flawless resume and undergoing an interview with the board. "I was nervous," she recalls, "but they were so kind!" As a trustee, she had to help make tough decisions--like authorizing tuition increases--that she knew might ruffle feathers. "But the board had information that ordinary students didn't have, and we had to see the big picture," she explains. "I'm an accounting major, and that made it easier to understand what was at stake."
When her term was over, she turned to the question of her future with her usual combination of maturity and initiative. During a recruiting trip to campus last year the accounting firm KPMG conducted interviews with Syrena and several other students, but left without making any solid offers. "They said they were restructuring and couldn't fit people in right then," says Syrena. But that didn't stop her from pursuing them. "I called up an Ithaca alum who works there and asked for the recruiter's number. I just said, 'I'll speak to him myself.' " It worked: she'll be joining KPMG in the fall.
She won't forget Ithaca once she's gone. As a student trustee, she was inspired by seeing professionals take time out from their careers to serve the College. She has promised herself that she'll sit on the board of trustees again some day. And when Syrena makes promises, she keeps them. Even her e-mail signature gives evidence of her resolve: "I just can't give up now," it says. "I've come too far from where I started from."
