Where Are They Now

In 2017, I was chosen for the fifth cohort of the Boyd Scholars. After graduation in 2020, I stuck around Athens to get my master’s degree in journalism, where I focused my studies on representations of Appalachia in media. My work culminated in an online, multimedia project called “Encore: The Appalachian Opera House Revival” (encoreoperahouse.com). For my graduate studies, I was invited to join the mass communication honor society Kappa Tau Alpha. Upon graduation in April 2022, I moved to Louisville, Kentucky and began working as a copywriter at the marketing agency, LEAP Group. 

I am currently in my second year of grad school at Marshall University to become a doctor of physical therapy (DPT). I have a heavy interest in pediatrics and neurology, so a specialty in one of those fields may be in my future. In my free time, I love to read and go hiking with my fur baby Dodger. I also really enjoy watching baseball, and my dog’s name kinda gives away what team I support.

Since graduating May 2018, I have been been working as a TV news reporter in Charleston, WV. The news business is a funny one.... I can be doing a story on puppies and in literally five minutes, I could be called to serious breaking news. That can be tough, but if being a Boyd taught me anything — it’s to be adaptable and open to everything. The news business is also an extremely tough and competitive business, so I learned very quickly I had to stand up for myself. I can say becoming a Boyd was single handedly the best thing to happen to me at OU as it fostered a sense of self confidence that I didn’t know I needed. It helped shape me into the strong lady I am today and for that I’m SO grateful!

Salaam alikum, and hello from Morocco! I’m a recent graduate and Margaret Boyd alum. I am currently serving as a youth development volunteer with Peace Corps Morocco. My experience with Margaret Boyd is full of laughter, love, and good advice. The summer before my fourth year, I was an intern with Eden House in New Orleans, a halfway house for women coming out of human trafficking. I ended up in the position through a Margaret Boyd connection. That experience, combined with the encouragement and shared experience of Boyd advisors and peers, led me to the Peace Corps. In fact, I even had my first Skype interview in the Margaret Boyd lounge! Being in a space created to cultivate empowered feminine relationships gave me so much love to fall back on and made all the difference for me. Margaret Boyd helped me to find my people, and to find those weird parts of myself that had been worn off along the way. I am infinitely grateful to the Margaret Boyd Scholars.

I am currently in my first semester in my master's program at West Virginia University. I am studying Integrated Marketing Communications. I am also applying everything I learn in the classroom to my graduate assistantship! I work at the public relations GA in the WVU Office of Graduate Education and Life. The assistantship provides me both significant financial aid for my studies and amazing work experience.

I wouldn’t have found this incredible opportunity without the support of the MBSP. It was through a fellow Boyd Scholar that I learned about my first internship which spurred my interest in the communications field. Without her support and encouragement, I may have never fallen in love with this area of study.

I am completing my music therapy clinical internship at Florida State Hospital, a mental health treatment facility. With music therapy, I use music as my tool to help people reach their wellness and recovery goals. Together, we write songs, learn how to play instruments, and discuss song lyrics in order to learn healthy coping skills, understand our diagnoses, medications, and legal situations, and express what we are feeling. By the end of a session, I hope we leave feeling supported and empowered to take control of our mental health treatment and recovery. I am so grateful that I get to make music with the kindest, smartest, most resilient people five days a week.

Through programs and seminars hosted by the Margaret Boyd Scholars, I learned about resilience, human connections, gratitude, creativity, diversity, and empowerment--themes that come up a lot both in life and my work. Being around the scholars and faculty encouraged me to chase my dreams and work hard to be a successful creative therapist.

I am currently working at a private oil and gas company in Denver, Colorado as a "Land and GIS Tech." I do legal and mapping work for the company's land department. I have learned so much so far and am thrilled to see where this position takes me. Living so close to world class recreation in the Front Range and elsewhere in the Rocky Mountains is amazing and often makes me feel like I'm living in a fairytale! I truly believe that if I hadn't found the MBSP as a freshman in college, I wouldn't be where I am today. The program truly fostered my ambitious, "just go for it" spirit as a young woman by providing me a space in a group of like-minded women with equally as big dreams and hopes for their futures. I went through the toughest year of my life as a freshman in college. But the Margaret Boyd Scholars truly rallied around me and supported me. I will always be thankful for that.

Since graduating from OHIO in April 2017, I’ve spent my time trying as many new things as I can possibly get my hands on. I moved to New Orleans after graduating to do social media work at a non-profit with Susanne Dietzel, then after that three month position ended I immediately moved to New York City to work on a feature film. I gained a sense of direction after that job and decided to see what kind of work I could do in the production industry. In January 2018 I started a job at HBO as an office production assistant in the documentary department. I was on a team with five other people – the director, producers, another PA – five to six days a week, working from pre-production to post-production over the course of seven months. We wrapped the show in early August, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to get started on another soon. The end of senior year was a frantic time, full of uncertainty and possibility. I was completely overwhelmed by both. I had no sense of direction for my post-grad life until I sat down with the other Boyd Scholars for a seminar with Dr. Dietzel. She told us about the non-profit she worked at in New Orleans and mentioned that they offered internships. It was this position that sprung me to where I am now. Margaret Boyd gave me the opportunity I didn’t know I needed to find my footing in the “real world".

I’m studying school psychology at Radford University for my master's and Education Specialist degree. My cohort is all women, and school psychology is a 77 percent female field, so it’s really cool to see the impact women can have in the workforce. Margaret Boyd taught me to be a leader and advocate for myself. I also learned how to find my place in new settings and the importance of community involvement. I am so lucky to have played a role in such an amazing organization.

Here is a picture with me and Henrietta Lacks at the National Portrait Gallery! (Margaret Boyd Scholars participated in a common reading of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot)

After graduation from Ohio University Honors Tutorial College and the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program, I served a Fulbright Award teaching English in the deep forest of the Czech Republic at a forestry school. There, I taught students age 15-20 who were training to be foresters, lumberjacks and vets. After a year there, I returned, officially married my partner and am now working in the Head Injury Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, doing research on pediatric acquired traumatic brain injury, and singing with Muse Feminist Choir. The MBSP helped me get connected to people who could help me achieve my dreams and gave me so many friendships along the way!

Every day I'm grateful to have attended Ohio University and participated in the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program. The Program has given me friendships and a network that touches most corners of the U.S., and some pretty interesting places around the globe.

I'm currently in my second year of law school at the University of Cincinnati, and a Social Justice Fellow in the College's Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice (CRGSJ). The programming of MBSP allowed me to surround myself with people who share and helped shape my values, and I hope to carry what I learned far into my career. I began working as a Law Clerk at a plaintiff-side, employment discrimination firm in May 2019, and I loved it so much that I've stayed on for fall semester. I also work as a Legal Intern with the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati and CRGSJ's Domestic Violence & Civil Protection Order Clinic, where I have the humbling opportunity of aiding survivors of domestic violence seek physical freedom from abusers.

I still remember sitting around the table in our Maggie B senior capstone course, listening to my cohort discuss their passions, fields, and the issues we wanted to overcome in our respective careers. Seeing these classmates (and now colleagues) work toward just what we planned is a pretty unreal feeling.