Allison Shectman, right, with State Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky, D-Queens.

Senior Allison Shectman describes herself as a “late bloomer” who has sampled and taken full advantage of her opportunities at the University at Albany. It’s not necessarily the path she would recommend for every undergraduate, she says, but in her case, it’s been full of rewards.

It took the 21-year-old Shectman, a Presidential Scholar from Bethpage, N.Y., until the midway point in her college career to decide on a major. As a freshman, she had planned to take a pre-med curriculum and major in biology. She changed her mind after four days on campus. By the end of her sophomore year, she had also considered, and rejected, majors in psychology or business (“They didn’t work out.”). Her cumulative grade point average, or GPA, meanwhile, was heading in the wrong direction. At the suggestion of a friend, she took a couple of classes in communication and rhetoric, and knew she had finally found her academic niche. At the same time, she became a Middle Earth peer counselor, joined the Albany chapter of the National Communication Association, and began raising her GPA. At the end of her junior year, it was a healthy 3.51, and she was inducted into Lambda Pi Eta, the communication honor society.

“I’ve chosen my own way, but I’ve loved my experience here,” says Shectman.
Last semester, she landed a departmental internship as a legislative aide to state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky, D-Queens. The 15-credit internship, which also included a stipend, was “the experience of a lifetime,” says Shectman, who managed office communications, prepared committee agendas and coordinated Sen. Stavisky’s schedule. Shectman thrived on the hectic pace and responsibility.

“On session days especially, you’re really running around. Every single minute you’re doing something else,” she says.

During the fall of her junior year, Shectman tutored three boys, ages 7 to 9, at the Saddlewood Elementary School through the America Reads program. She took up English riding as a member of UAlbany’s Equestrian Club and went river rafting, rock climbing and hiking with the Outdoors Club. As an outreach coordinator at Middle Earth, she has worked to inform her peers about such topics as roommate problems, peer pressure, sexuality issues and substance abuse. Over the summer, she studied abroad at Middlesex University in London through a program administered by the SUNY campus at New Paltz.

“I love everything I’ve gotten to do here,” she says. “It’s not for everyone, but it’s been wonderful for me. If I was bored, I wouldn’t be enjoying my experience, and it wouldn’t be as complete an experience.”

— Christine McKnight