Alexa Napolitano ’14TCB
Business Student Thrives Thanks to Personal Support at Staten Island Campus
When Alexa Napolitano ’14TCB graduates from St. John’s this May, she will—by her own reckoning—have made the most of every opportunity the University offers, from Student Government to Greek life, academic honors to internships.
Now the management major looks forward to start working as an analyst at Goldman Sachs (a position she was offered after interning there last summer). She attributes her success to the personal attention she received at the University’s Staten Island campus—and to St. John’s focus on academic excellence without bounds, giving talented students an edge in their personal and professional lives.
"I love the Staten Island campus,” Napolitano said. "It’s small enough so that I’ve been able to get to know everyone." That included academic deans and Career Services staff, who helped to guide her academically and professionally.
Pre-professional advisors, for example, alerted her to internship opportunities like the one at Goldman and another at BNY Mellon in the summer of 2012. "They knew how motivated I was,” said Napolitano, “so they made an extra effort to contact me when opportunities came up.”
A Sense of “Family”
The Staten Island native, who opted to attend St. John's as a resident student, has immersed herself in campus life since her freshman year, often assuming leadership roles including president of the Delta Epsilon Beta sorority, orientation leader, and chief of staff for Student Government, Inc. (SGI) at the campus.
Napolitano particularly enjoyed serving as an orientation leader, which allowed her to share her love for St. John's with new students. "My job was to make them feel comfortable and create personal relationships,” she said. “I told them about my experience and encouraged them to be equally involved on campus. We formed a bond, and they knew they had someone to come to for help."
Joining Greek life, Napolitano said, was another highlight of her St. John's experience. In Delta Epsilon Beta, she was elected secretary and then president of the sorority. Napolitano also flourished academically: she is one of three students from the Staten Island campus appointed to the President’s Society, the highest honor society within the University.
Reflecting upon her four years at St. John's, Napolitano said, "I'm going to miss everything about it—the personal relationships I had with faculty and staff, the great friendships, and the attention I received. It really is like a family here."