JFEW Capstone Project

The JFEW Binghamton Leadership and Career Development program is a competitive 4 year, academic scholarship program funded by the Jewish Foundation for Education of Women. This program, designed and administered by the Fleishman Center, provides Scholars with up to $5,500 per academic year in scholarship support, a paid summer internship up to $4,200 and 6 academic credits. In addition, the program provides tailored career development coaching, mentorship and peer support for the accepted Jewish female students of all majors throughout their college journey at Binghamton University. 

The inaugural JFEW/Binghamton Leadership and Career Development Cohort began in the Fall 2017 semester and will graduate in May 2021. The scholars have completed a senior capstone project to reflect on their internship and the myriad turning points that occurred throughout their JFEW experience at Binghamton University. In the following videos, these exceptional scholars share their stories, experiences and future goals. Learn more about the JFEW Scholars Program here

2017-2021 Scholars:

Alexandra Rizopoulos ’21
Major: Industrial Systems Engineering (ISE, Watson)
Internship Site and Position: Project Management Intern at Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)

Hailey Zion ’21
Major: Human Development (CCPA), education minor
Internship Site and Position: Intern at SEEK (Support, Empower, Empathy, Kindness) at Binghamton University

Isabella Weiner ’21
Major: Nursing (Decker)
Internship Site and Position: Nursing Assistant at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC

Katrina Weiner ’21
Major: Financial Economics (Harpur)
Internship Site and Position: Private Wealth Management Intern at AllianceBernstein

Madeline Propis ’21
Major: Industrial Systems Engineering (ISE, Watson)
Internship Site and Position: Intern in the Operations Division at Morgan Stanley

Michelle Zharkov ’21
Major: Biology on the pre-dental track, minor in comparative literature (Harpur)
Internship Site and Position: Intern at Windsor Court Dental

Rochelle Cohen ’21
Major: Mathematical Science
Internship Site and Position: Fundraising Intern at ONETrack International

Julia Anderson ’21
Major: Human Development (CCPA), minors in Forensic Health, Health and Wellness
Career Field/Position of Interest: Healthcare, specifically for the elderly population. Julia is currently deciding between occupational therapy, nursing, and physical therapy.

Lena Eder ’21
Major: Biology and Environmental Science (Harpur)
Career Field/Position of Interest: Environmental Law

Mara Licciardi ’21
Major: Actuarial Science
Career Field/Position of Interest: Actuary 

Raya Skopicki ’21
Major: Biology, minor in Forensic Health
Career Field/Position of Interest: Pediatrician (plans to go to medical school and become a pediatrician to combine her interest in medicine and working with children)

Samantha Herlands ’21
Major: Psychology, minor in education (Harpur)
Career Field/Position of Interest: Children’s mental health. Sam is currently applying to programs for clinical psychology, school psychology, and join programs (school clinical psychology) 

Jessica Rakhamim ’21
Major: Psychology
Career Field/Position of Interest: Clinical psychologist

Alexandra Rizopoulos ’21

Alexandra Rizopoulos spent the summer working as an IT Project Management Intern at Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a financial company in Jersey City that clears stock market transactions and offers IT and data services. In this role, she ran queries for the team’s historical performance metrics and depicted those metrics in visual dashboard formats. This position confirmed her interest in project management and both allowed her to utilize what she learned in her Industrial Systems Engineering coursework and develop new industry skills through hands-on learning. 

 

Hailey Zion ’21

Hailey Zion shares her experience as a SEEK intern in the fall of 2019. Through this internship, Hailey learned counseling skills and techniques from her supervisor, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. Her experiences at SEEK sparked an interest in counseling and working with adolescents, which have inspired her to pursue her Masters in Social Work in hopes of becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. 

 

Isabella Weiner ’21

Isabella Weiner spent her summer interning on-site in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. During her time there, she was part of the Clinical Assistant Program and was assigned a nurse preceptor to shadow. This experience allowed her to further develop her nursing skills and gave her the opportunity to help patients in need. 

 

Katrina Weiner ’21

Katrina Weiner discusses her experience as a private wealth management intern at AllianceBernstein. This internship allowed her to utilize what she learned in the classroom as a financial economics major and also taught her a wide variety of new industry skills, such as client service, resource allocation, and submitting cashflows. She also had the opportunity to network within AllianceBernstein and learned about positions from different departments that she did not directly work in. Katrina enjoyed the analytical experiences from her internship the most and plans to pursue a career that would allow her to utilize her research and critical thinking skills. 

Madeline Propis ’21

Madeline Propis shares her experience interning remotely for the operations division of Morgan Stanley. Being an industrial system engineering major, she initially found an internship in finance to be challenging, but she worked hard to catch up and learn important industry skills. Madeline found this position to be an excellent fit for her interests and skill set and accepted a full time position with Morgan Stanley upon her graduation this spring. 

 

Michelle Zharkov ’21

Michelle Zharkov was a dental intern this summer at Windsor Court Dental, a private practice in Manhattan, NY. She assisted Dr. Alexandra Simpson and developed skills relating to dental practice and running a medical office, while also adapting to new policies relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. This experience confirmed Michelle’s interest in dentistry and she hopes to one day have her own practice.

Rochelle Cohen ’21

This summer, Shelli Cohen interned at ONETrack International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reimagining orphan care.  As a fundraising intern, she developed, planned, and advertised virtual programs in order to help the organization cover the educational, medical and living costs of orphans in underdeveloped countries and enable the children to grow up in the homes of their extended relatives. Although Shelli does not think fundraising is the exact career path she wants to take, she found nonprofit work to be rewarding and hopes to work for a nonprofit organization after graduation. 

 

Julia Anderson ’21

Julia Anderson’s passion for helping others and strong bond with her grandparents have inspired her to pursue a career in the healthcare field working with the elderly. In her interview, she discusses how she found her career path and challenges she faced along the way. She plans to take a gap year next year and then begin applying to occupational therapy and nursing programs.

 

Lena Eder ’21

Lena Eder just graduated a semester early with a degree in Biology and Environmental Science. In her interview, she discusses the experiences that affirmed her interest in these fields, including her roles as a teaching assistant and undergraduate researcher. Her passion for the environment has inspired her to pursue a career in environmental law, and she will be applying to law schools soon.

 

Mara Licciardi ’21

Mara Licciardi is studying actuarial science and hopes to become an actuary after graduating this spring. She credits JFEW with providing her with resources that have helped her to be successful throughout college in this challenging field of study. 

 

Raya Skopicki ’21

Raya Skopicki is a biology major and forensic health minor on the pre-med track. Pre-med is a notoriously challenging program, and Raya discusses her experiences going through it. She also describes an experience she had shadowing a doctor and gaining skills that further confirmed her desire to pursue a career in medicine. After graduation, Raya hopes to attend medical school and eventually become a pediatrician to combine her interest in healthcare and working with children. 

 

Samantha Herlands ’21

Samantha Herlands is passionate about helping people and has always wanted to incorporate this into her future career. In her interview, she describes her journey selecting her field of study and challenges she faced along the way, as well as her experiences as a camp counselor. Samantha’s interest in psychology and love for working with children have inspired her to pursue a career in clinical psychology, and she plans to attend a graduate program in the fall that will allow her to gain a PsyD in clinical psychology or school psychology, or attend a joint program to become a pediatric clinical psychologist. 

 

Jessica Rakhamim ’21

Jessica Rakhamim discusses how her immigrant family has motivated her to enter the psychology field and also the challenges she faced while simultaneously working full time and taking a full course load. Despite these obstacles, Jessica was able to gain valuable experience as a teaching assistant and researcher and is currently applying to graduate schools. Her ultimate goal is to help patients in mental health distress, either in a school setting or a private practice. 

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