BASF is one of the leading chemical companies in the world. BASF was founded in Luwigshafen, Germany in 1865. It operated in various sectors, including chemicals, plastics, performance products, agricultural solutions, and functional materials. The company focuses on innovation & sustainability. Dr. Kyle Flack, Technical Manager, Resins, spoke to NFHS student Jaideep about his education and work, BASF, and careers in chemistry. Watch the interview.

Dana Silvers has been with the Beck Group for 10 years. She started as an Architectural Intern and is now an Associate Project Architect. She went to Ball State for her Bachelor's degree and Clemson for a Master's degree in Architecture. She shared her perspective on the different architecture programs and advice on what to study now and in college. Spoiler alert: psychology is a bigger deal than you might think in a technical field! She talked with NFHS Juniors Giulianna and Abigail. Watch the interview.  

Kheng Lee has been an Interior Designer with Progressive Companies since 2020 when she graduated from Florida State University with a Master of Science in Interior Design. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Architecture from University of NC at Greensboro. She talked with CRHS Senior Lily and NFHS Junior Ana-Paula. Watch the interview.  

Jimmy Wilhide has been an architect for 27 years. After attending Clemson University for his bachelor and master degrees in architecture, he started a business with a partner. He then joined Moseley Architects and focused on the K-12 Education sector where he has enjoyed creating effective and beautiful learning environments. In fact, he worked on Nation Ford High School for 10 years from concept to completion. After 20 years with Moseley, he transitioned to LS3P Associates, where he is still designing spaces for young minds to grow and learn. He talked with CRHS Senior Anna and Sophomore Ryan. Watch the interview and learn about being an architect.  

Jack Miller, Director & Editor, formed his own company last year and moved to So. California. Sonder Mediums is built around creating curiosity and empathy with diverse stories. Focusing on feature-length and serial projects, they create narratives and documentaries for audiences looking to see the world beyond their own experience. He continues to work with Wheelhouse Media in Charlotte, which is an award-winning video production company that works closely with clients to create branded content for marketing campaigns across all media platforms. His degree is from UNC Greensboro in Broadcasting & Cinema. He talked with NFHS Senior, Deuce, about what it's like to create and edit videos/films. His career has not been a straight path, and he says it's competitive and hard but worth it. Watch what he loves about it. 

Nathan Bingle, Photographer The world of photography has always intrigued me. However, my career started off in the kitchen. For about 15 years I worked in restaurants and casinos. It’s no surprise that after running a restaurant and catering many weddings as an executive chef, I’m now running my own business. What’s more, I’m still very much a part of the wedding world. It’s just in a different role. This time I’m the photographer. 

What I like the most about my job as a photographer are the people I meet and photograph. Whether it’s a bride and groom or the kids I meet in the schools and out on the athletic fields, I enjoy being a part of people’s milestone moments. Watch the interview with CRHS Junior Addison. 

FMHS Junior Prashun Ghimire got input on creating his own clothing brand focused on sweaters, which he is looking to source from Nepal or other parts of Asia. He spoke to Dr. Bharath Ramkumar and Ms. Rebecca Dias, who both worked in the fashion industry and then taught fashion at US universities before moving back to India. 

Dr. Bharath Ramkumar is an award-winning researcher and former Assistant Professor of Fashion and Textiles at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oneonta, where he taught fashion merchandising, retail management, and sustainable development. His partner, Ms. Rebecca Dias, has had a career focused more on design in fashion and textiles and taught at Radford University. Together they gave Prashun advice on various aspects of his business plan, including target audience, competitive pricing, logo/tag design, Instagram advertising, and more. They suggested he write up a story about his target clients to guide his marketing decisions, as well as his story that will be shared with potential customers. 

Rachel Richardson attended Winthrop University and has a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism. That is when she fell in love with the journalism craft and giving people in the community a voice. She also had the opportunity to study journalism and human resource management in London, England at Kingston University. 

Previously, Rachel completed a news internship at WIS News 10 in Columbia. She was a staff writer at her college’s newspaper The Johnsonian and she was an anchor and reporter for “Winthrop Close Up.” She started work as a digital marketer. 

Click on her photo to learn more and get good advice. 

Capt Mike Prodan has been a Criminal Investigative Profiler for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s (SLED) Behavioral Science Unit since 1998. Prior, he was with the Covina, California, Police Department, and the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation. For eight years, he was the Special Agent Supervisor of California DOJ’s Violent Crime Profiling Unit. He has 50 years of law enforcement experience, with over 37 years of investigating violent crime.

In 1990, he became one of only 34 graduates worldwide of the FBI’s Police Fellowship in Criminal Investigative Profiling and Crime Scene Analysis at the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime in Quantico, VA. He is one of the original members and currently the president of the International Criminal Investigative Analysts Fellowship.

He is also member of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals and was a committee member in developing the Risk Assessment Guideline Elements for Violence: Considerations for Assessing the Risk of Future Violent Behavior. He has investigated, assessed, and managed over 1600 threatening and inappropriate communications to executive, legislative and judicial government officials, schools, businesses, and individuals.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from California State University Long Beach, a Master of Science degree from Columbia Southern University in Criminal Justice Administration and is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Delinquency Control Institute.

Sgt Stephen Moore heads up the York County Multi-Jurisdictional Forensics Unit. 

Watch the video of him talking with Forensic Science students at Nation Ford HS. 

Here is a link to his PowerPoint slides. 

BJ Barrowclough is the 16th Circuit Public Defender with 27 years of experience. He studied psychology at the University of VA and went to law school at Boston College. Mr. Barrowclough joined the Public Defender's office in 1995 and became Circuit Defender in January 2020. He spoke to Mr. Knight's Fort Mill HS Dual Enrollment Criminal Justice/Sociology class about what it's like and what it takes to defend indigent clients. Watch the video. 

Judge William McKinnon is interviewed by NFHS Junior Amira. He describes the different types of courts (Trial or Circuit, Family, Magistrate, Probate, Appeals and Supreme) and the various professionals that play a part in court proceedings. He invites students to observe criminal cases as those courtrooms are open to the public. He also shares the different types of lawyers, such as trial, patent, tax, estate, real estate and corporate. He gives advice on what to study and more. He started his career as a teacher so it makes sense that you can learn a lot by watching this video. 

Tory Brown started his career as an electrical engineer. After 10 years he switched to data analytics because he wanted more flexibility and growth. He has worked for Intel, Duke Energy, and Citi Financial. He shared his advice on which programming languages and more to learn and how to move ahead in a technical career and be successful/happy. 

Watch Nation Ford HS Junior, Adeet and Catawba Ridge HS Junior, Amenet, interview him.  

Evan Felker, Novant Health, Information Security Policy & Compliance Analyst, Cybersecurity Products & Services talked with Nation Ford HS Senior, Tyler Zokos, and Fort Mill HS Junior, Jeremy Ianne, about his career path and offers advice on making your way in this field. He studied criminology and criminal justice at USC and started his career with SC Law Enforcement Division (SLED) before doing contract cybersecurity work in banking and insurance companies.  Watch the video. 

Free Cybersecurity Resources: 

Cybrary provides guided pathways, threat-informed training, and certification preparation to fully equip cybersecurity professionals at every stage in their career.

Dark Reading is one of the most widely read cybersecurity news sites. 

Krebs on Security Brian Krebs is the author of this daily blog covering computer security and cybercrime. He is an American journalist and investigative reporter best known for his coverage of profit-seeking cybercriminals.

Elizabeth Fitzgerald was in 10th grade at Fort Mill HS when she impressed Dr. Mirsad Hadzikadic at UNCC Data Science Initiative (now Complex Systems Institute) with her sincere curiosity about data analytics, machine learning and more. He invited Elizabeth to work with his PhD students on the issue of economic mobility that summer. The next summer she was accepted into the Research Science Institute (RSI) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She went back to "Dr. Mirsad" for the summer before leaving for Stanford University to work on a machine learning project. She has had college internships with InfoSys in India, ExoAnalytic Solutions, Tesla and Amazon.  She is going to continue at Stanford to obtain a master's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning. 

Dr. Erin Barletta is a pathologist at Boston Children's Hospital in Boston, MA. She received her medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine and has been in practice since 2020. 

Pathologists diagnose and characterize diseases. They analyze biopsied tissue or bodily fluids, and interpret medical tests, including tests done by other specialists like dermatologists and cardiologists. Most cancer diagnoses are done by pathologists.

Here is the video of Dr. Barletta talking with Landon Riley from Nation Ford HS.

Leslie Stone shared her inspiration for becoming a nurse and her varied work experience, including critical care, oncology, research, education, and long-term care. She stressed the the commitment to compassionate patient care and quality versus quantity of life when it comes to end-of-life decisions. She explained how training and educating staff was something she found incredibly fulfilling, especially as a clinical nursing instructor for senior nursing students, guiding them through hands-on learning in oncology units across several major Charlotte hospitals. 

Most recently, Leslie opened a family care home where she could provide care for her mother and other elderly individuals needing similar support. She became a Certified Administrator and operated a six-bed assisted living facility, overseeing all patient care and facility management aspects. Within the past year, she chose to step back from full-time operations to focus more on her family. She now primarily trains staff on medication administration and ensures compliance with state and county regulations for family care homes.

Stacy Foss has been Respiratory Therapist for 31 years. For the last three years she has worked at the Atrium Pineville Rehabilitation Hospital. She obtained a master's degree in Healthcare Administration but returned to bedside care as she missed her patients. She has helped people of all ages ~ from new born to 105 years of age. 

She gives good advice about work-life balance since she now works 3 or 4 12-hour shifts or 36-48 hours per week versus the 74 to 80 hours per week she used to work. 

Dr. Ziad Hage, Neurosurgeon with Novant Health, spoke with Sinclaire Nixon Nation Ford HS. Listen to the audio recording of their conversation.  

"I first fell in love with medicine while shadowing my father, who is a medical oncologist. However, I knew I wanted to train in a surgical specialty, and when I first discovered the complexity of the nervous system, I was attracted to neurosurgery.

Cerebrovascular neurosurgery is a highly technical specialty, demanding the utmost rigor, compassion and surgical skills. Today, I am a board-certified cerebrovascular, endovascular and skull base neurosurgeon and lead physician for cranial and endovascular neurosurgery."

Jenna Bartlett is a Midwife with Piedmont OB/GYN in Rock Hill. She recently shared her experience with Catawba Ridge HS Early Childhood Education students, who are studying child development.  Watch the video where she talks about why she chose obstetrics and women's care and what her work life is like. 

Megan Vanderploeg has been a Physician Assistant (PA) for 15 years, and is currently with the Pediatric Cardiology Department of Atrium Levine Children's Hospital. She is interviewed by Catawba Ridge HS Senior Taylor Burns.  Watch the video where she talks about preparing to be a PA (choosing a college, major, etc.), what the work environment is like and offers other advice for students. Watch Ms. Vanderploeg answer questions from Nation Ford HS HOSA students. 

Nicole Keeter is a Physician Assistant (PA) with 14 years of dermatology experience – medical, surgical and cosmetic. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing & Management and a pre-medicine minor from USC and obtained a Master of Sciences in Health Science from George Washington University's PA Program while also completing an Advanced Surgical Practicum. Ms. Keeter practiced at The George Washington Dept of Dermatology and for two years held the position of Associate Professor of PA Studies. In 2014, Nicole moved back to the Southeast where she practiced at a hospital outpatient dermatology clinic and in 2019, joined Fort Mill Dermatology. Watch as she is interviewed by Nation Ford Senior, Victoria Cross. 

Victoria and Ellie are Nation Ford Health Science 4 students. During their clinical rotations or job shadowing experiences, their workplace mentors at Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute Orthopedics & Sports Medicine taught them what it's like to get a cast. 

Atrium Health

Dr. Kristi Wragg is an adult psychiatrist, originally from Michigan. After working as a clinical social worker in the psychiatric emergency department at Rutger’s University, Dr. Wragg decided to pursue medicine at Central Michigan University. During her residency training, she served as the Chief Resident for the Sandra & Leon Levine Psychiatry Residency Program within Atrium Health in Charlotte. She is now a Staff Psychiatrist with Hopeway, which offers various residential and outpatient programs with the vision to be a premier leader of mental health services by providing holistic care grounded in science, while building awareness and acceptance through education.  Watch the video where she is interviewed by FMHS Junior, Srinikitha. 

Dr. Stephanie Le is a Forensic Psychiatrist with the SC Department of Mental Health. FMHS student Victoria interviewed her about the educational requirements, day-to-day activities, what are the best, most challenging and stressful parts of the career, and how she works with law enforcement. Dr. Le shares what skills and abilities are needed to be successful and gives great advice on how to discover your best path. 

Watch the interview. 

Michelle Gagan, Department Chair of Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) and Medical Assisting at York Technical College, shares her experience and that of her students. She talks about the options available in private practices and hospitals, as well as traveling professionals. 

Watch FMHS student Isabella interview her. 

See the York Tech MLT video. 

Michael Cloer is a Simulation Performance Engineer with Red Bull Racing & Red Bull Technology based in the United Kingdom. He graduated from Nation Ford High School in 2018 and obtained a mechnical engineering degree from Clemson. He held various positions on the Clemson SAE Formula Student team for five years and did multiple internships with Tesla, Hendrick and others before being hired by Red Bull. He gives great advice on creating a clear vision of where you are going, applying yourself as a club member and/or intern, and standing out from the crowd and networking with professors and industry experts. Michael is currently reviewing 1,000 applications for limited internships (see ad). 

Watch the video where he is interviewed by FMHS Junior Jonah and NFHS Sophomore Jackson. 

Ayla Homer is Senior Geologist, Project Manager with SME Inc. where they provide engineering, environmental services, and construction testing.  Ayla went to State University of New York in Oswego where she obtained a Bachelor's in Geology. She was interviewed by Fort Mill HS Senior, Jack. In addition to answering his questions about the science involved with her work, she shared wisdom about: 

• Being self-starter as you need to a great problem solver for clients that are paying $150/hour.

• Managing your time.

• Communicating well in everything from emails to reports.

• Learning on the job. Don't say not to anything! 

• Internships should start by your sophomore year in college and are often paid in this field. 

Here is the video.

Mr. Bramblett is a Principal Engineer at Hart & Hickman, PC (H&H), which provides a broad range of environmental consulting services. He has Bachelor's inAtmospheric Science, Weather Forecasting from UNC Asheville & Master's Agricultural & Biological Engineering from Clemson.

H&H hires people from these four types of Bachelor’s and/or Master’s programs:

• Environmental Engineering

• Geology

• Environmental Science

• Biology

These professionals can do environmental consulting, but only those with licenses can sign off on reports submitted to state and federal agencies. Therefore they lean towards hiring environmental engineers and geologist because those degrees lead to licensure. H&H is a very technical company focused on quality and problem solving. They use many practical applications for math and science, such as collection and analysis of environmental data, to evaluate Brownfields and other sites for contamination and exposure risks.

Mr. Bramblett shared his experience and advice with Fort Mill HS students in Mr. Wesley Gray's Environmental Science class. Here is the video.

Bob Condron founded Bridge Financial Partners LLC in 2006 and has been in the financial industry for nearly 40 years. He shares his personal and career journey and describes what it takes to be successful in the financial industry with a focus on client relations and communication skills. Watch the video of him talking to three FMSD students. 

Frances Yarbrough is a Director with SeamonWhiteside, which is a civil engineering and landscape architecture company. She has been with SW for 12 years working in Mount Pleasant and Charlotte. She talked about her civil engineering education and the land development career path. She shared what to expect as a college intern and more when interviewed by Luna from Catawba Ridge HS. Watch the video. 

Alaina Kiewit is a Regional Partner at St. John's Properties in Charlotte. She has been with the company for 5 years and previously worked with Ryan Homes. She talked about commercial real estate development with the flex buildings that her company builds. She shared her education and career paths and described different markets (Charlotte and Baltimore). She was interviewed by Erin from Nation Ford HS. Watch the video. 

Denis Arnautovic is a successful real estate broker  and general contractor with his own company called DA Properties. He started his career by fixing up his own home and eventually realized the value of having his real estate license. He now works with people who want to buy, sell and invest in property. Denis shares how students can get started and learn and how important it is to network, build relationships, and take care of customers. He is interviewed by Terrence and Emma from FMHS and Katherine from CRHS. Watch the video. 

Katelyn Jensen is the Marketing Manager for the new Piedmont Medical Center hospital in Fort Mill. She started her career in broadcasting and moved into healthcare marketing, which combines her love of medicine and story telling. She is interviewed by Nation Ford HS Senior Maggie Smith. Watch the video that makes you want to market something you love. 

Gary Carrai, Executive Vice President with LPL Financial, has 30+ years of experience of providing strategic direction and helping financial advisors achieve success in the high-net-worth market. He is also an entrepreneur. He co-founded Fortigent, a company that provides performance reporting, research and practice management, and grew the company to support 100 advisory firms with managed assets of $75 billion in just seven years. His other experience includes working for NASDAQ and the Investment Company Institute (ICI), which is the leading association representing regulated funds globally. Mr. Carrai has a B.S. in Finance and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®). The CFA Program is a three-part exam that tests the fundamentals of investment tools, asset valuation, portfolio management, and wealth planning.  He frequently speaks on the trends in wealth management at industry conferences. Watch as he is interviewed by CRHS student, Anand, and gives excellent advice. 

Suzanne Harnois, Assistant Vice President, The Springs Company, has a varied financial career ~ starting with 12 years in a public company (Duke Energy), 18 years in an accounting firm (BNA CPA Firm) and 5 years with a private company (The Springs Company). NFHS Sophomore, Gabriela, asks her questions about her education, work-life and advice she has for students. Ms. Harnois shares tips, like getting your CPA credential will help you get opportunities you might not otherwise and learning how to work with people and studying psychology is important.  

Watch the interview. 

Ryan Rothacker is Commercial Dive Supervisor at MAC Enterprises, which provides under-water welding and other services to the fishing industry in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Ryan shares how he discovered this unusual job that "fits his personality" and what it's like to work in Alaska, be on call 24 hours a day certain months of the year, including winter which is their busy season.  He talks about the training involved and going where the work is. CRHS Senior, Cade, interviews him to understand the lifestyle choices in the field of welding.  Watch now. 

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