SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - A group of 11 business leaders from different backgrounds spoke to Penn State Schuylkill students Monday night about how they got to where they are today.
The Career Panel night, held in the campus Health and Wellness Center, was sponsored by the Community Affairs Committee at Penn State Schuylkill and some of the business leaders were from careers in engineering, manufacturing, law management and even mortuary.
Cathy Fiorillo, chairwoman of the Community Affairs Committee, said that each was going to spend about three minutes talking about how they took the career path they chose, why they took it and how they ended up where they are now, then students were able to ask questions.
"Last year was the first year that we did it and it was a big success," Fiorillo said. "Students will get feedback and it will hopefully help them on their career path."
Becky Deatrich and Caitlyn Ebling, licensed funeral directors at Ebling-Stabingas and Geschwindt-Stabingas funeral homes in Cressona and Schuylkill Haven, said that they came into their careers differently.
Deatrich said that when she graduated from high school, she knew she was interested in performing autopsies but didn't want to go to school for eight years to become a doctor, so she decided on a similar career in funeral directing.
"I'm thankful that I picked it because I get to do that kind of work and deal with families and help people at the same time," Deatrich said.
She then approached Ebling's father at the local funeral home and asked for his help, then the two women went to mortuary school together.
Ebling said she was in the family business and didn't want to do it at first, but later changed her mind.
Both went to Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, and spent three years there. The first two years were general education courses, then they had a year of core funeral classes and field study work, followed by a year of internship.
"We spent four years in school just like a regular bachelor's degree," Ebling said.
Christine A. Holman, an attorney with an office in Frackville, said law was her second career and when she graduated high school, she first came to Penn State Schuylkill for two years then transferred to Penn State Middletown, now Penn State Harrisburg.
Holman eventually graduated in 1980 with a degree in marketing and said when she came out, she sent about 100 job applications but only got one offer.
She then worked for Kmart as part of the conversion team and got to use her marketing skills while traveling up and down the East Coast.
Later, she applied to the state police and didn't make it, then applied to the Central Intelligence Agency for a security protection officer position, but at the same time she was accepted to Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan.
Her career path brought her back to Schuylkill County where she pursued her career in law, clerking for Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin until 2000, when she decided to branch out on her own and opened her office in Frackville.
In 2002, she became assistant district attorney and today is an assistant county solicitor.
"If the theme of tonight is how you got to where you are today, I would say definitely some hard work, courage and a little bit of adventure," Holman said.
Bill Wydra, president of Ashland Technologies Inc., Hegins, told the students that three things matter in helping them along their career path today: the people they meet, the books they read and the risks they take.
"These are the times to take those risks," he said.