Walker Grads Speak

List of 10 items.

• Brian Reid ('12)

• Hetal Joshi Gordon ('93)

• McClain McKinney ('13)

• Abbey Mateer ('08)

• Krista & Todd Baughan ('90, '89)

• Josh Zuckerman ('12)

• Miranda Martin ('13)

• Vinnie Paglioni ('12)

  Nuclear Test Engineer, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

  Georgia Institute of Technology, Class of 2017

  B.S in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, Minor in Mathematics

  The Walker School, Class of 2012

  
  On May 6, 2017 I will graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering with a Minor in Mathematics. After graduation, I will start my career as a Nuclear Test Engineer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. I do not know much about the position that I can divulge, but I will likely be working with a team of engineers from both the Department of Defense and the Navy to maintain the submarines in shutdown mode for the duration of their stay at the shipyard, as well as performing/overseeing various tests of the reactor systems onboard. The long-short of it is that I will be supporting the fast attack submarine fleet and spending much of the first two years in qualification training to be a qualified Shift Test Engineer. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is the longest continuously active shipyard in the United States (since 1800) and I am proud to represent Walker's Tradition of Excellence while I am there.

  An education that sets you apart: Walker gave me a broad background in not only the sciences/STEM subjects but also the arts and humanities. I think that this is what has set me apart from many of my colleagues at Tech and similar institutions. Everyone who is competing for a STEM degree understands science (or at least understands by the end) and math, but NOT everyone has a strong basis in history, arts or humanities. Especially at Georgia Tech, these subjects represent an increasingly small fraction of the courses we take here. When I go to work I will have to communicate with people that do and do not share my same mindset, and a knowledge of a variety of subjects is very important in fostering these relationships. I thank Walker for introducing me to not only various subjects in school but also to diverse cultures and mindsets.

  
  Walker’s STEM curriculum prepared me for Georgia Tech and beyond: The science, math and technology education I received at Walker was top-notch and prepared me excellently for my first-year material at Georgia Tech. I was able to catch a glimpse at “life after calculus” through the Advanced Topics and Linear Algebra classes. The robotics club, which has found enormous success, introduced me to the engineering process and mindset, and helped me apply the physics and math I had learned to real-world problems. Science Olympiad, another successful Walker club, let me flesh out which areas of science, math and engineering I most enjoyed, and allowed me to augment my coursework in subjects that I chose. The entire department was there to support and encourage my learning throughout my career, and never failed to challenge me. AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Calculus, Advanced Topics, Linear Algebra, AP Computer Science – the instruction I got in these courses lead me to Tech, and I can’t thank the Walker teachers enough for that.

  But it’s not all about STEM… Beyond knowledge of science and mathematics, I left Walker with a new respect for the arts, literature and languages that I encountered here. I became a better-rounded student and person, a point that became glaringly obvious when I got to Tech and started talking with my classmates. Sitting side-by-side with some of the greatest minds I have ever met, who now work at SpaceX, Tesla, NASA’s JPL, Google, Facebook, Delta, GE, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and Disney, I realized that I had received something these people had not. We all had a background in the STEM subjects - it is Tech, after all. However, I was able to write more eloquently, and pull more obscure literary and artistic references than most of my classmates. The breadth of my Walker education really began to shine through.

• Kathryn E. Callahan ('97)

  

  Kathryn Callahan Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine

  Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine

  Program Director - Geriatric Medicine Fellowship

  Wake Forest University School of Medicine

  
  As an academic physician, I am privileged to spend my time at the intersection of science and humanism. Walker identified, coached, and refined tools I use now on a daily basis:

  
  Curiosity: This is, in my opinion, the core of scientific inquiry. Curiosity can drive understanding: about the systems of the human body, the processes of disease and treatment, and – most importantly – about the person presenting with illness. Curiosity also helps weather the ups and downs of a life in science – the right answer in medicine often shifts as we learn more. In my research, I have learned that understanding a project’s failures is often more instructive than an anticipated success. Maintaining curiosity about patients can drive me to find an unusual diagnosis, or even further develop an effective relationship. Science classes at Walker taught me that curiosity is its own reward, independent of the “right answer.”

  
  Teamwork: Nothing I do alone can be better than what I can achieve as part of a team. As a geriatrician, I work with an inter-professional team that includes nurses, social workers, physical, occupational, and speech/language therapists, hospice representatives, chaplains, and many more. At times, I lead the team. Often, one of my colleagues steps in to direct from her area of expertise. “Team Science,” a buzz-word in my field, succeeds with the same principles I learned on Walker’s volleyball team: Share a vision of success, do what you say you’ll do, and know when to step forward and when to follow.

  
  Communication: As an active part of Walker’s theater community, I learned skills in teamwork and in effective communication. I learned how to read nonverbal cues, and how language can both reveal and obfuscate meaning. I use these tools daily in building rapport with patients, eliciting a history, and ensuring patients and their families understand and support a plan of care. After all – an “answer” is only as useful as the explanation that goes with it. 

• Mike Ramsay ('13)

  Mike Ramsay

  Psychology Major, Duke University 
  #99, Defensive Tackle – Duke Blue Devils
  
  

  "My time at Walker was incredibly helpful. Athletically, the coaching staff was great and helped motivate me to become a great athlete. Ira Dawson is still one of the best football coaches I've ever had and our Strength and Conditioning Program helped me improve my Olympic lifting ten-fold. To this day, all my teammates and coaches at Duke know that I do very well at Olympic lifts because of my foundation at Walker.

  Academically, I greatly benefited from the writing and critical thinking skills that Walker taught me. Being able to form a sound and original argument has a recurring theme in the papers I've had throughout my four years at Duke and I believe these skills were developed early at Walker.
  
  

  The teachers there were incredibly caring and involved. There are so many people like Mr. McCurdy, Mr. Dawson, Ms. May, Mrs. Crouch, Ms. Rogers, Mr. And Mrs. Arjona and so many more that I feel invested in me as if I were their own child. I felt they genuinely pushed me to be a better version of myself in school and athletics and I am truly grateful that my mom encouraged me to attend Walker."

  Mike was the captain of the 2012 Wolverines Football team and help lead the team to the first-ever perfect season record of 10-0.  Click here for more information on Mike's success with the Duke Blue Devils.