July 27, 2017
Trading sandpaper, paint brushes and dust rags for professional attire, two 2017 grads are leaving the Ursuline College maintenance crew to launch their careers.
Courtney Maurer has spent the last four summers and Alexandra Shirley, the last three, sprucing up Ursuline residence halls under the supervision of maintenance staff member Golden Dickerson.
Maurer, who earned a BA, magna cum laude, in education, will be teaching psychology and Advanced Placement psychology at Louisville High School, near Canton. Shirley, who earned a BA, magna cum laude, in chemistry with minors in mathematics and biology, will be working in a laboratory at Houghton International in Strongsville.
Both are grateful for the education and career preparation they received at Ursuline.
“I can’t say enough good things about the Chemistry Department,” said Shirley, a 2013 graduate of Wadsworth High School. “I loved my professors and my classes were pretty small. Dr. (Melissa) Barranger and Dr. (Sarah) Preston were very helpful. They even reviewed my resume and gave me interview tips. Ursuline College prepared me well.”
Maurer, a 2013 graduate of Carrollton High School, feels ready for the classroom. “The Education Department at Ursuline is great. They really put us in the field right away. We start going into schools in the fall of our freshman year; so that really helped.” Her third interview for the Carrollton job involved teaching a lesson to a class, which she did with confidence. “I’m really prepared.”
Maurer and Shirley bonded on Ursuline’s bowling team as well as in their summers on the maintenance staff. And they have something else in common: both are engaged to be married next year. Quips Maurer, “I think it’s our being able to fix a toilet that made our men want to tie the knot.”
Those summers on the maintenance staff really paid off.
Above: Alexandra Shirley, left, and Courtney Maurer, right, receive hearty congratulations on graduation day from their summer job supervisor, maintenance staff member Golden Dickerson.
