Since graduating, brother Dash Schwartz has been working as an Associate Retirement Actuary at Buck Consultants in New York City.  His team is hired by companies to solve pension related issues, including accounting, funding, governmental filings, plan administration, and actuarial assumptions.  He helps companies provide the best possible retirement benefits for their employees at the lowest possible cost, using actuarial mathematics models.  Dash, who graduated as a Dean’s List Scholar with a Mathematics and Economics degree, is one of Rho’s finest scholars and has continued to excel in the business world.

Brother Luke Spear has been working under a senior financial advisor as an intern at Ameriprise Financial this summer. His assignments include updating client information and contributing to the financial planning process. Luke is pursuing a double major in Psychology and Economics and has found that much of what he has learned at Lafayette can be applied to his work at Ameriprise. His work ethic can bee seen both inside and outside of the classroom; he was a Dean’s list scholar this past semester and has a second job in addition to his internship at the Chatterbox, a restaurant in Ocean City.

Brother Dan Toutoungi has spent his first summer out of Lafayette working as a professional risk underwriter for Ace Group in Jersey City. Dan is tasked with understanding and evaluating risk to stay on the risk adverse side. He reports that it has been an amazing learning experience but is well aware that he still has a lot left to learn. Much of his responsibilities involve networking and building relationships with brokers, however, something his time at DKE has more than prepared him for.

This past semester, Brother Nicholas DiNino ’15 studied at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany. Lafayette College offers many exchange programs to its students. Brother DiNino had not traveled much before this spring semester, and he could not pass up the opportunity to study abroad. Nicholas chose Germany due to its central location in Europe, its proximity to other countries that he wanted to visit, and its abundance of culture and different way of living. Nicholas shared the experience with fellow Rho DKE’s Brendan Malone, Sam Todd, and Dan Zakzewski. Nicholas found it helpful to have these friendly faces on a new campus and on a completely different continent.

In Bremen, Nicholas enrolled in a German Politics and Culture course, completed his Math minor, and worked towards his Electrical and Computer Engineering degree. Nicholas often studied for the Electrical Engineering course with Brother Malone. With their German Politics and Culture course, Nicholas and fellow Rho DKE’s traveled to Berlin, Helgoland, Brussels, and St. Petersburg, where they learned about German politics, the European Union, and Russia. In addition to the educational experience, the DKE’s were given time to explore the cities, visit historical sites, and enjoy the nightlife. Nicholas spent his spring break with Brother Zakzewski traveling throughout Italy. He enjoyed seeing the country of his ancestors and spending time with one of his brothers.

Since returning to the United States, Nicholas has been working in the restaurant industry for King Coil Cleaning, a company that services draft beer systems. Nicholas has also continued his travels in Maine, Washington DC, and New York City from his home in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Since graduating this spring, Brother Peter Phillips has been working as an Underwriter Trainee in the Executive Assurance Division at Arch Insurance Group in New York. His job consists of underwriting private and public companies applying for a vast variety of coverage.  In his time at Arch Insurance Group, Peter has built strong relationships with many brokers in order to potentially gain additional new business.  With degrees in Economics & Business and Government & Law, Peter is confident his education at Lafayette will propel him in his future career in finance.

During the spring semester brother Tyler Stearns studyied abroad in Spain. After returning home, Tyler had the oppurtunity to reflect upon his journey:

Since freshman year, I’ve always known that I have wanted to spend a semester abroad; however, the specific location always seemed to allude me. Once Brother Burke and I settled our intentions of studying in the same location, we searched for a change in culture, but were limited to our monolingualism. We narrowed our focus to Europe, hoping to maximize our diverse experiences while simultaneously minimizing our constant appeals to our parent’s for the ever-needed additional Euros (the conversion was brutal). When looking at the possible locations that our program offered we set our eyes on Barcelona, Spain. We both had heard that many of the locals spoke English (which turned out to be false) and were thrilled about the opportunity to be living in a beach city that boasted both a rich history and an incredible night life. So we left the frigid winter weather of America in early January and moved into an apartment in the Gracia area of Barcelona to spend the next three months as Europeans.

The first month of living abroad was a huge adjustment, not just to the European culture, but also the transition from a born-and-raised suburbanite to a city of around 1.5 million. Brother Burke and I were slow starters compared to our peers that were studying with us; after our initial scarring of being lost on the metro for over two hours we finally learned how to effectively utilize the public transportation system. Transportation was not the only area where we felt significant setbacks, but also the cultural difference of food. The Spanish treat their meals as social periods, where enjoying the company and meal was more important than efficiency. As Brother Burke and I discovered through one of our Spanish class assignments, most meals consist of a small breakfast, a large lunch (followed by an hour siesta), and an appallingly late dinner that started from anywhere between 9 and 11 pm. Everything seemed to be delayed in Barcelona, including going out, where many people would stay out until sunrise every night.  Communication was also extremely difficult as Barcelona resides in the autonomous community of Catalonia that fosters its only separate language, Catalan, and culture from the rest of Spain, although people in Catalonia can still speak Spanish or Castilian as many spitefully referred to it. These are just some of the initial adjustments I had to adapt to throughout the three months.

Being a double-major in Economics and Government and Law, I decided to take a mix of courses to see the contrasting differences between the European and American system. I discovered that although my classes were distinct in subject, they were much more interconnected than my classes in America. I observed that the economy and the government were more inherently related in not only Spain, but in many other European countries as well. Countless times my commute to classes would be delayed by throngs of people protesting budget cuts of anything from healthcare to education and the omnipresent beggars (Barcelona also boats the highest pick pocketing rate in Europe). Suffering from the collapse of the Spanish housing market and banking system, I lived in Spain during a time of social and economic turmoil exacerbated by widespread political corruption which included bribery of the President and embezzlement by the Spanish royal family. Despite this, I continued to enjoy the little time I had in Europe, traveling to Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, among other places. Barcelona was a beautiful, young, and vibrant city that provided everything and more that I needed during my time there.  Although I can’t say my Spanish is any better, it was an experience which I would not trade for the world and I am utterly grateful to my parents for providing me the opportunity.

This summer I am interning as a Regulatory Analyst at the National Stock Exchange, Inc., where I assist monitoring and investigating SEC and Exchange violations by trading firms.

Since graduating, brother David Ecklemann has been working as a Deputy Finance Director for the ‘Tom Wolf For Governor’ political campaign in the State of Pennslyvania.

His job entitles him to meet with supporters accross the state, and help raise money for the campaign. Although demanding, David has enjoyed the experience thus far, for it has allowed him to meet very interesting people from all walks of life. Through his time spent on the campaign trail, David has had the oppurtunity to get to know Mr. Wolf, leading to his transformation from employee to avid supporter.

This summer, Brother Adam Szklanny is working as a paralegal for Borland & Borland, L.L.P., a small law firm located in his hometown of Wilkes-Barre, PA that specializes primarily in Employment Law, Civil Rights, Commercial Litigation, and Civil Trial Practice. His primary duties in the office include legal research, drafting and editing legal briefs and memos, preparing relevant discovery responses in various cases, and general trial prep.

Adam will be working at this office until he moves up to Ithaca in mid-august to begin his adventures at Cornell Law. We wish him all the best as he continues to represent DKE as a scholar, gentleman and jolly good-fellow.

This past semester Brother John Burke ’14, studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain.  Brother Burke studied and lived with fellow Rho DKE Tyler Stearns while in Barcelona.  John chose to study in Spain because he was intrigued by the prospects of becoming acquainted with the Spanish lifestyle, language and political culture.  Other reasons that weighed into his decision to study in Spain included the Mediterranean climate and Barcelona’s fabled nightlife.  In Spain, John enrolled in a variety of Spanish Political Science courses, as well as an intensive Spanish language course.

While in Europe, John and Tyler traveled to several locations including Rome, Amsterdam and a trip to Berlin to meet with John’s sister Shannon.  By living, travelling, and struggling with various language barriers together John and Tyler only enhanced the bonds initially instilled by DKE.   Moreover, Brother Burke, upon landing in Spain was accosted by an amicable fellow passenger who recognized the letters engraved on his sweatshirt.  As it turns out John and Tyler were on the same flight as a Brother from Zeta Chi chapter of DKE at Bentley College.

Brother Burke enjoyed his time in Spain, but was indeed ready to return back to the United States at the end of the semester.  This summer John is working for a busy civil litigation firm in Parsippany, NJ, while simultaneously study for the LSAT, which he will be taking in the fall.

Brother Matthew Kuttner is interning at Fox Chase Capital Partners LLC, a firm dedicated to the buying and selling of bonds. His responsibilities include aiding the partners and analysts with information concerning the U.S. government and corporate and municipal bond markets, in addition to learning about the field as a whole.

Brother Kuttner was also recently elected to the House Manager position, responsible for overseeing the daily mantinence and overall beauty of our chapter house.