Success Stories

Emerging healthcare professional Alexis Marcotte is a dedicated Honors scholar, a curious global explorer, and a voice for compassionate health care. Her Honors Thesis investigated factors that influence quality of life in skilled nursing facilities, inspired by her work in a nursing home.

Balancing roles in several student advocacy groups and SFU's track team, Honors student Jayden Foster is making the most of his Saint Francis experience—embracing wellness, leadership, and learning as he prepares for a future in Public Health.

Dr. Joel Bandstra helped Sarah Hartwell, an SFU Environmental Engineering rising senior, secure an internship with an environmental geochemistry firm, Mineralogic, in Duluth, MN. Throughout the summer, Sarah built upon skills she learned at SFU, such as coding with Python, PHREEQC, and R Studio, while gaining new experiences working with software such as PowerBI and researching rules and regulations in Minnesota.

SFU sophomore Thomas Grove earned the university’s first DoD Cyber Service Academy scholarship. The award covers two years of tuition and includes a guaranteed federal job after graduation. It highlights both Thomas’s achievements and the strength of SFU’s Cybersecurity program.

From student-athlete to emerging business professional and Army officer, 2nd Lt. Erika Ellison is a Saint Francis University graduate whose career journey is rooted in discipline, ambition, and a desire to serve. A native of Washington State, Erika came to SFU to play lacrosse—and left five years later with not only two degrees but also a clear sense of direction.

Fiaunna Bertha, a 40-year-old mother of two and traveling surgical technologist from Philadelphia, is set to graduate this May with a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Healthcare Studies from Saint Francis University. Driven to pursue a career as a Physician Assistant (PA), she has embarked on a challenging educational journey that started online and eventually brought her to attend classes in Loretto to meet her lofty goals.

Three Saint Francis University entrepreneurs took their non-profit company EcoPrint all the way to second place in the 41st annual Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) Global Conference and Pitch Fest on November 2, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. Biology-Pre-med students Caleb DeBass (Forest, VA), Carson Elbin (Needmore, PA), and Nathan Poplos (Magnolia, DE) pitched their business EcoPrint.

Saint Francis University students Griffin Burt and Julianne “JJ” Dee started their podcasts for very different reasons, yet both are using their platform to inspire others to follow their dreams or to educate them on matters important to their communities.

Interdisciplinary, community-engaged program, Go Baby Go! benefits children with disabilities and offers hands-on experience for OT, PA, and engineering students at Saint Francis University.

4-year-old Ava’s weekly feeding treatments offer hands-on experience for OT students. Since fall 2022, she has been attending these feeding sessions as part of a hands-on, community-engaged lab with the students in the pediatrics course.