A Woman With A Plan: Katelyn Keese

Katelyn Keese has come to learn that the more she plans out her life, the better it seems to be. She realizes she is still quite young but in her time on the planet so far, she can honestly say that anything she put some effort into planning has worked out quite well. For example, when Katelyn Keese decided she wanted to apply for the internship with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, she was so pleased when she was granted the opportunity. That plan led to her next set of plans, which include interning at another foundation in South Carolina.

After she completes her next internship, she feels she will be ready to apply for part-time work in a foundation or non-profit organization. Katelyn Keese sees the opportunities for someone like her within these organizations and wants to have her moves strategically timed as best she can. 

When she graduates college, she would like to have built herself up in these positions with her degree to back her up. The ultimate goal is employment and she knows this may not all go exactly as she would like it. At that point, however, Katelyn Keese will change her course a bit and revise her plans.

Sometimes, Katelyn Keese feels that it is easier to handle if something does not work out even if you have planned it because she can at least say she tried. No one would ever accuse Katelyn Keese of being lazy, that is for sure! She takes life on with gusto and purpose. Where it is harder for her to plan is in the way of relationships, marriage, buying a house and having children. She is not quite ready to plan that part of her life yet. When the time comes, though, Katelyn Keese will undoubtedly be up for the challenge.

You Need to Spend a Little to Make A lot Katelyn Keese

Upon arriving at the University of South Carolina, Katelyn Keese embarked to make her college experience truly worthwhile. Similar to how she was in high school, she began joining clubs and various organizations to network and expand her horizons. As a finance and business management major, Katelyn Keese heard about the Investment Association on campus. She immediately joined and was amazed at how much she immediately began learning about investing – much more than what she had learned in her college studies just yet.

The first meeting she attended covered the basic concept of what is investing and the group had a great debate. It was interesting to hear all the different opinions especially amongst students of different economic backgrounds. The group then moved on to topics such as compounding interest and understanding different types of investments.

What was most interesting and caused much debate was knowing yourself and understanding your needs as an investor. Katelyn Keese found this very interesting because not only did she need to learn this for her own finances and investment strategies, but also when she provides counsel to others. It is important that the investor understand the reality of how much they have to invest and what are their long or short-term goals. Also, the association talked a lot about how emotions affect how investments are managed. 

Kately Keese contributed a great deal to these discussions having learned a lot from her parents. She understood how the age and stage of life an individual is in is a huge factor in investing. Most of all, Katelyn Keese knows that you have to be prepared to part with your money if you want it to work for you. If a person is not prepared for that or wants instant gratification, investing may not be for them.

Katelyn Keese Interns at Make-A-Wish Foundation

Katelyn Keese rose quickly in the ranks after joining Chi Omega at the University of South Carolina and beginning her work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Chi Omega and the Make-A-Wish Foundation established a partnership in which the fraternity feeds into their charity by providing volunteers and opportunities for fund raising. Katelyn Keese was thrilled when she found out she was chosen to be an intern one summer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation directly in their headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

Being an intern is usually not too glamorous but Katelyn Keese was really excited to add another chapter to her experiences. Upon arriving at the Make-A-Wish Foundation, she was greeted with open arms as a member of Chi Omega. Some of the other interns did not seem to like her too much for this but once they got to know her, they could not help but appreciate her work ethic and energy. Katelyn Keese was immediately assigned to their Finance department where she made copies and ran around for some executives.

It was not challenging work for sure but she was getting bits and pieces of how things work in such an organization as she listened to the Make-A-Wish employee’s talk. She was picking up on things quickly and was being given more responsibility. Before long, Katelyn Keese was putting together spreadsheets and assisting some of the financial planners and analysts. The experience was proving to be incredibly rewarding as she learned how the money brought into the foundation really benefitted the cause. 

After the internship was over and Katelyn Keese returned to University of South Carolina, she had a new sense of purpose in everything she touched. She now participated in Chi Omega with even more rigor as she understood and appreciated how things really worked between the foundation and the sorority.

Human Resources Intern Katelyn Keese

This summer, Katelyn Keese is learning ropes at a large company as a Human Resources Intern. At first, the position sounded a bit drab but after starting, Katelyn Keese is shocked at all that has to be done in order to hire an employee. She is assisting the director of Human Resources in meeting with the program directors first about what kinds of employees they need to hire. After the position is agreed upon, the job postings are listed in all relevant places. Then the flood of resumes began coming in via email, website and the regular mail.

Katelyn Keese is learning to sort through these resumes and immediately weed out ones that do not meet certain requirements based on the job listing. She is sort of heartbroken to see some of the cover letters of people who had been laid off from jobs they had for many, many years. Some of those people are applying for positions that they are over-qualified for but it is clear they need employment. Katelyn Keese is being exposed to a reality that she would only hear her parents talking about or see percentages on the news about unemployment.

After sorting through the resumes, Katelyn Keese assists the director in schedule the first round of interviews. She greets the nervous candidates after they arrive at the office and offers them coffee. She even gets to sit in on some of the interviews and takes notes for the director. 

Katelyn Keese is fascinated by the body language of some of the candidates and how the director immediately rules people out for certain responses.Katelyn Keese then has the task of informing which candidates are invited back for second interviews and thanking those who came in but will not be reviewed further. She roots for some of the candidates as if she is watching a television show.

Katelyn Keese – A Well-Rounded Young Woman

Anyone who meets Katelyn Keese will attest to her strong character but also the fact that she is such a well-rounded individual. She credits her parents with always supporting her and exposing her to as much as they could. She has a curiosity and a drive that is already proving to lead her far ahead in anything she pursues. 

As a teen in high school, Katelyn Keese was much less worried about her appearance and clothing than her peers. This is not to say that she was not a typical teen but always seemed to know when enough was enough. She was kept busy with her participation in sports but was not over-scheduled like some of her friends. Katelyn Keese had time to go to movies, read books and visit museums in Washington D.C. She developed interests in things other than sports or boys or her iPhone. 

Katelyn Keese surprises most everyone she meets by knowing a little bit about a lot of different things. In a time where parents groom their children to be experts at one thing, Katelyn Keese is completely well-rounded. Now that she is in the second half of her undergraduate degree, she is taking all the classes to fulfill her major and minor. However, she truly enjoyed the first two years of her degree when she was taking her required classes which spanned all subject areas.

Katelyn Keese appreciates and enjoys learning American and European history, art and biology. She was able to take an entomology course to fulfill her science requirements and was fascinated by the world of insects she learned about. She never feels like these kinds of classes are a waste of time and it shows in her enthusiasm for devouring new information. Being well-rounded is definitely underrated and Katelyn Keese will certainly benefit from how she is so naturally.

Katelyn Keese Moves on South

Growing up in Poolesville, Maryland, Katelyn Keese spent much of her early teen years dreaming of going to college. She loved and enjoyed every stage of her education but was always mature beyond her years. When she was young, an older cousin was accepted to the University of South Carolina and her whole family packed up to visit her. Young Katelyn Keese was thrilled by the beautiful campus and the energy of the thousands of young people milling about. She never forgot the feeling of that campus when she began her own search for colleges.

Katelyn Keese could have really gone anywhere. Her grades were amazing and the list of extra-curricular activities on her college application was impressive. She was the all-American girl that turned everything she touched into gold. She applied to colleges all over the country as she has a thirst for adventure and exploration. She wanted to leave her small town and discover something new. When the acceptance letter came in the mail from University of South Carolina, Katelyn Keese could not ignore the utter excitement she felt. She decided right then and there that she was definitely meant to have her college experience in this place that struck her so many years prior.

Her parents were happy because she would be on the same coast as them and it would not be too difficult to get her to come home occasionally. Katelyn Keese began voraciously researching the history of the school and of what she could expect out of life in the southern state. It all seemed to fit with her personality just fine. There were tons of organizations, clubs, sports and opportunities awaiting her on the historic campus. Katelyn Keese loved warm weather, golf and beaches so she looked forward to spending her down-time on the South Carolina coast.

Surviving High School Katelyn Keese

Katelyn Keese really enjoys working with youth and teaching them to be a part of a team. She is able to show the youth how to most safely learn an exercise or how to strategically make a play. What is most challenging to her is when they have down-time and they want to talk with her about high school. Katelyn Keese kept herself busy and focused in high school by being almost obsessively involved in school sports and other clubs. 

Not all youth are able to be so involved and Katelyn Keese tries to talk them through what their experience is and how they can try to better it. Katelyn Keese’s volunteer advisors constantly praise her tactics and tell her that just the act of listening to the youth and offering suggestions makes a difference. For example, many of the youth she works with attend high schools that are not in the best neighborhoods. These schools have challenges that she never dealt with and the youth struggle to remain positive in what is not always such a positive environment. 

Katelyn Keese reinforces the youth’s involvement in any clubs or programs that may be offered through the school or local community organization. Sometimes she researches additional choices for the students so that she can offer them more educated information. Katelyn Keese also realizes that in the few years she has been out of high school that things have changed even since then. She talks with them about the dangers of social media and constant texting. She coaches them on personal relationships and communication along with healthy physical activity. Katelyn Keese stands by her belief in being on a team that makes all the difference as well to a youth – no matter what walk of life he or she may be coming from.