Paige Sharpe

 

 

For someone so ambitious, Paige Sharpe is remarkably unassuming. Her professors, in fact, describe her as a student who does great things in a quiet way.

Perhaps that is because her actions speak volumes. And, really, what more could she say.

Sharpe is a senior from Castle Rock, Wash., a town of less than 2,000 people in the heart of the state’s timber country. She will graduate from Gonzaga in May with a degree in business administration and concentrations in marketing, human resource management and international business.

Her interest in business dates to high school, when she participated in the Future Business Leaders of America. Her fascination with international marketing has driven her to pursue it collegiately and professionally.

“Developing new ad campaigns and altering products and brands for use in other cultures is something that I find very interesting,” Sharpe said, “because when done properly, you get to discover what is different and what is the same between our culture and others.”

Sharpe would eventually like to perform marketing research for companies across the globe. But following graduation, she will join the Peace Corps. She is in the process of obtaining her certification so she can teach English overseas.

In the meantime, Sharpe is busy working as an intern for Leadership Spokane, a civic-leadership training program. She is also the public relations officer for Man’s Best Friend, a student club that performs service and fundraising activities for SpokAnimal, an animal adoption shelter in Spokane.

It is just more proof that while quiet, Sharpe certainly is not inconspicuous.

Taylor Brown

 

The only thing Taylor Brown enjoys as much as science, it seems, is rock climbing. That probably explains why he spent his summer doing both.

Brown, a senior from Bend, Ore., is majoring in biochemistry at Gonzaga University. His aptitude for science earned him an undergraduate research fellowship from the National Institute of Technology. He was one of just 16 students from across the country chosen for the prestigious 11-week program, which took place in Gaithersburg, Md., this past summer.

“The institution was incredible,” he said. “I was able to perform science on a very unique project with resources that I never dreamed I would have available to me at another institution.”

Brown was part of a research team investigating blocking agents to optimize performance of a carbohydrate-functionalized vesicle array. That may sound ridiculously complex, but it qualifies as dinner conversation in Brown’s family. His grandfather, father and brother all studied chemistry at Gonzaga.

“I want to understand life on a fundamental level,” Brown said, “to understand the smallest mechanisms of the human body as a mechanic would understand a machine.”

Brown also spent his 11 weeks in Maryland frequenting a local climbing gym. It is the largest indoor facility in the country and many professional climbers use it regularly. Brown admits he wouldn’t mind joining the pro climbing ranks one day.

“But eventually my judgment will catch up with me,” he said, “and I’ll probably want to go to medical school.”

Ultimately, Brown would like to pursue a career as a pathologist. Immediately following graduation, however, he will work for Teach for America. He will teach secondary science in the Rio Grande Valley near the border of Texas and Mexico.

“Hopefully my passion for science,” he said, “can rub off on some of my future students.”