MEDIA, Pa. — Madelyn DeFazio, a fourth-year human development and family studies major, reflected on her Penn State Brandywine experience so far and how professional experiences have helped her succeed.
“I chose to attend Penn State Brandywine because I was recruited to play softball. I was on a recruitment team and Mark Caserta, head softball coach at Brandywine, saw me play and offered me a spot,” she said. “I toured the campus and went to Maple Zone to see where we would be playing, and I knew that I wanted to go here.”
Going into college, DeFazio knew she wanted to major in human development and family studies in order to become a school counselor. She developed her dream of becoming a counselor when she was in twelfth grade.
“Originally, I wanted to be a teacher. I was really adamant about going to school for education; I even student-taught my senior year of high school. After that, I decided it wasn’t for me,” she recalled. “I knew I still wanted to help people, so I decided to go down the therapy route and fell in love with school counseling. That’s why I wanted to major in human development and family studies when I came to Brandywine.”
In addition to pitching and playing infield on Brandywine’s softball team, DeFazio is currently interning in the guidance counseling office at Northley Middle School in Aston, Pennsylvania. At Northley Middle School, she works with the sixth-grade guidance counselor to help students who are facing challenges in school.
“I reached out to schools in the area to see if anyone was looking for an intern in the guidance counseling office, and Northley was one of the schools that got back to me and offered me a position,” she said. “It seemed like a great fit from the start. It’s close to my apartment and I really like the middle school age group. It’s such an impressionable age, and in my experience, school counseling helped me immensely at that age.”
DeFazio noted how she has benefited greatly from her internship at Northley, stating how she’s gaining hands-on experience that’s going to help her in graduate school and her career.
“Going into this internship, I was really nervous because I was afraid I wouldn’t like it. When I was two days in, I realized this is exactly what I want to be doing in my career. It’s so rewarding to have students know who I am now,” she said.
“I’m getting hands-on experience before going into graduate school, which is great. I’m getting one-on-one experience with students, working through crises and interventions. I feel like everything I’m learning at Northley through the counseling program is so beneficial. I’m going to take everything I’m learning with me for a really long time throughout my career.”
As I’ve gone through Brandywine and met different people, experienced different friendships and made so many connections, it made everything fall into place and made my experience at Brandywine so great.—Madelyn DeFazio , fourth-year student, Penn State Brandywine
DeFazio said the most valuable lesson she’s learned during her time at Brandywine is that everything happens for a reason.
“I’ve always been a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. As I’ve gone through Brandywine and met different people, experienced different friendships and made so many connections, it made everything fall into place and made my experience at Brandywine so great,” she said.
“Everything I learned really taught me that everything does happen for a reason. You might not understand it at the moment, but you’ll take a step back one day and realize that everything played out that way for a reason.”
