Jade Catherine Petalcorin saw herself as a “STEM girl” through and through.
But when it came to figuring out her career path, she was less certain. After a high school internship in aerospace engineering didn’t feel like a good fit, she decided to pivot and enroll at the Gabelli School of Business.
It turned out to be the right decision. “It’s been the best four years of my life. I fell in love with Fordham, the professors, the people—and now—I must leave!” she joked.
Full Circle at Deloitte
In May, Petalcorin will graduate with a B.S. in Accounting, a field she first learned about through a corporate track arranged by Smart Women Securities, the Gabelli School’s all-female finance club.
“You shadow an officer of a company for a day,” she explained.
“The first corporate track I did was at Deloitte, and now I’ll be working with them after graduation.”
Joining Deloitte is one of several ways that Petalcorin is coming full circle as she wraps up her time at the Gabelli School. But the job she will take is in a different field from her original career path. While Petalcorin’s accounting skills are strong, she found she didn’t have a passion for accounting practice in the traditional sense. Thankfully, Michelle Weber, Ph.D., a clinical assistant professor in the Leading People and Organizations area, introduced her to sustainability consulting.
“I really did find my calling in sustainability consulting. It’s using accounting principles to find sustainability solutions,” she said.
“Professor Weber realized I was good at numbers, but also was really passionate about the environment. She reassured me I could have it all.”
Sustainability Consulting Internship Leads to Full-Time Offer
Petalcorin’s first opportunity to try her hand at sustainability consulting came during an internship in London, where she tracked greenhouse gas emissions and helped to devise methods to mitigate them. She went on to intern with the sustainability consulting group at Deloitte, which led to an offer for a full-time position.
Petalcorin also had transformational experiences through Fordham’s Ignite Scholars Program, an honors-level opportunity for high-performing students that provides a focus on social innovation, sustainability, and applied learning. As an Ignite Scholar, she has led trips to North Carolina and St. Thomas. She recently went to Berlin on a consulting project for a startup in sustainable 3D printing. Her latest trip was to Senegal as part of a consulting class.
Inspired to Be Purpose-Driven
The lessons of her travels continue to resonate. Petalcorin’s honors capstone project was inspired by an Ignite service trip she took as a freshman to rural Mississippi, where she worked with foster-care children.
“This project focused on college matching programs and post-enrollment resources for children who have experienced foster care. The number of students who have been in the foster care system and graduate from college is egregiously low,” she noted.
“And one thing we always say at Fordham is something our former University president used to say: ‘Be bothered. Be bothered about something enough to do something.’ And that certainly bothered me.”
Petalcorin hopes to continue to use the skills she acquired during her time at Fordham to make a difference. “That’s the most important thing for me,” she said.
“To be purpose-driven and to have an impact in all that I do.”
— Kim Volpe-Casalino
