​What brought you to this career? Honestly, I tried to avoid it.  I had served as a float teller in college and hated it.  Even took a banking course and hated it.  When I was a senior, I swore three things:  1) I’d never move back to the Valley, 2) I’d never get into banking, & 3) I’d never follow this Jesus guy my friends talked about.  Now I’m firmly rooted in the Valley, have a top-level banking role, and am actively following Jesus every day. So how it all played out is this…. I came out of college two recessions ago.  There were no jobs for a kid with a small network and barely gr ..read more

 What brought you to this career? ​ I changed my major in college from Nutrition to Interior Design largely in part because of my desire to have art and creation or creativity in my life on a daily basis. I could pursue a career in a branch of art and design that for me didn’t mean a Fine Arts degree.  Also, a friend in the major was making models of homes out of balsa wood for a design project and that looked fun to me! What is your most memorable experience in your career? The one that stands out among many cherished client memories is when a “walk –in” or someone that didn’t have an ..read more

What brought you to this career? I actually got into this field by accident. I studied Psychology and Business as an undergraduate, and then I went to VCU for graduate school for Rehabilitation Counseling. I was looking for ways to pay for college and ended up with a graduate assistantship in the Financial Aid Office while I was in school. After graduation and working a few years in the counseling field, I got a call from VCU asking if I wanted to come back and work in the Financial Aid Office. I really liked my GA in the Financial Aid Office, and when I was deciding whether to take th ..read more

What brought you to this career? I started college with the intent to pursue medical school.  A chance conversation with a fraternity brother who was in dental school stimulated me to consider dentistry.  My research convinced me that this would be a preferable career pathway.  I began shadowing a local dentist one day a week, which strengthened my belief that this was something that I was interested in. What is your most memorable experience in your career? The day I found out I had been selected for specialty training (endodontics) was the most memorable and exhilarating moment in ..read more

What brought you to this career? Originally, I studied to be a teacher, but after two years of never quite feeling at home in my work, I wanted to try something completely different.  Retail is a great mix of things that I enjoy: working with people and cultivating a space where others feel welcome and (I hope!) find the perfect card to mail, something special for their home, or a unique + handmade gift for a friend. What is your most memorable experience in your career? Each time a customer shares something they've enjoyed about the shop is memorable for me, but my favorite memory is ..read more

What brought you to this career? ​I never set out to be an airline pilot.  I was always interested in aviation, but didn’t know any pilots growing up, so I never considered it as a possible career goal.  In high school, I decided I was interested in becoming an officer in the military.  I applied for and received a Navy ROTC scholarship for college.  I attended Virginia Tech and decided during those years to try to become a Naval Aviator after graduation.  That decision started me on the road to become an airline pilot, although I certainly wasn’t thinking about the airlines at that tim ..read more

Our Spotlight Career Blog for December is Caleigh Simpkins, a speech language pathologist at The Speech and Language Center. The SLC provides speech, occupational, physical therapy, and autism services to Harrisonburg and surrounding communities, including an additional office in Page County opening this month. What brought you to this career? In high school, I had the opportunity to shadow my aunt, who is also a speech language pathologist, and I instantly loved it. It was amazing to see how she interacted with children and families, how they responded to her, and how she helped them ..read more

Talk about finding JOY in your career! I had the pleasure to sit down with Joy Orr, owner of Bride and Joy & The Refinery, an elegant event space and bridal rental company in Culpeper. What brought you to this career? I got experience with buying and then selling decor and items for my own wedding, and then realized I could make a business out of it. A local business in Culpeper had a contest offering a discounted rental space for companies willing to submit their business plans, and I won! Bride & Joy started with buying and selling/renting wedding décor to brides, and after ..read more

This week on our Facebook Live video, we continued our College Planning series talking about tips for writing your college essay. This is an important part of the application process because it catches the eye of the admissions board and it can be used for scholarships too. It’s important to remember to show the person who you are vs tell them who you are in your essay. This can be done by telling a story vs listing your traits or things you’ve done in a matter of fact way. In storytelling, you want to describe what you saw, heard, tasted, touched, and felt. Your story doesn’t have to be a mom ..read more

Did you know a year of college is about the same price as a brand-new car? It is an important decision to make: which college to go to and which major to choose. We want to help you to get the best value for your money by picking a college and a major that is best suited to you so you can find a career that gives you a sense of purpose.  This week on our Facebook Live video, we continued our College Planning series with knowing which major is right for you by understanding more about your values.  What do you value about work? What do you value about the experience of college? Do you value the ..read more