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Alumni Spotlight: Jorden Sneed '12

We caught up with Jorden Sneed '12 about life after Sierra Canyon, her college experience at Bucknell, and what the future may hold.

Tell us where you have been since May 2012.
 
Upon graduating from SC, I attended Bucknell. I had the good fortune of being named a Posse Scholar, and it was this award that afforded me the opportunity to study at such a prestigious and expensive university. The Posse Scholarship is an academic as well as leadership scholarship. I made the basketball team as a walk-on and played during my during my freshman and sophomore years. I joined the cycling team during my senior year. I served as Vice President of my class during both my junior and senior years. My major was sociology with a minor concentration in pre-med. I also did a lot of community service. We created a community garden and supplied and cooked meals for needy families in the “food desert,” an area of town devoid of supermarkets and other food outlets. I spent the spring semester of my junior year at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. My area of concentration was African economy and African studies. I must say that this African experience was the greatest and most enriching experience of my life to date. It was my 1st experience traveling and living outside of the USA. Living in Africa, I had the opportunity to visit Spain and Italy…places I had only dreamed of seeing. I stopped playing basketball so I could be able to live and study in Ghana. Although I love and cherish the time playing college ball, hanging up my team jersey let me participate more fully in the academic and social life of college. I do not regret the choice.
 
What are you doing at present?
 
Interesting question! I am in “limbo” so to speak, but it is a healthy and enriching one. I am working part-time in wealth management. The company, named Revolution Financial Management, provides financial advice to low and medium income families in which the larger investment firms would have no interest. The main goal of our firm is to educate families about family financial planning. We show people where they can invest any amount of money and what insurance companies might meet their budgets. This fall I returned to the Sierra Canyon Lower School as a basketball coach. I coach the 6th grade boys and girls. I am proud to say that my 6th grade girls won the San Fernando Private School Championship.    
 
Where do you see yourself or where would you like to be in the future?
 
The limbo in which I find myself is giving me the opportunity to think about my future. My minor concentration in medicine has me thinking about a medical career. At present, I am leaning toward a career as a nurse practitioner. I am considering graduate school and perhaps working in EMS prior to pursuing a graduate degree. 
 
Tell us about your Sierra Canyon experience.
 
I get choked up and emotional when I think of my years at Sierra Canyon. I do not know where I would be today without Sierra Canyon. Bucknell, being out of my financial reach, most certainly would not have been an option. Prior to SC, the schools on my horizon were limited to Pierce or local community colleges. I firmly believe that SC has made me the young woman that I am today. I am eternally indebted to Eric Schrode whose in-your-face and demanding teaching more than equipped me to handle the high standards of Bucknell. While my classmates were spending hours outlining and writing papers and essays, I was cranking them out left and right with time to spare. To put it briefly, Sierra Canyon opened doors for me that I never dreamed of. I am eternally grateful.
 
Do you keep in touch with SC classmates and is that important to you?
 
It is very important to me. I still keep in close touch with my old Sierra Canyon friends. There are Alexis Clark, Elizabeth Kim, Ivanna Florez, Rebecca Solomon and Brandon White, to mention a few. Although we do not see each other often, we do keep in touch, and I know that we are there for each other whenever we are in need. Henry Stann was in my graduating class at Bucknell. Most recently, I was thrilled to reconnect with Jacob Tager and Blade Brady. Sierra Canyon is truly my Alma Mater in the fullest sense of the word. When I come here, I feel that I have come home.
 
What advice would you offer to our current Upper School students, in particular to juniors and seniors who are making choices that will affect their future lives.
 
While I hesitate at saying, “Go East,” I do strongly suggest that they consider leaving California for a while. You can always come back. I encourage them to be open to experiencing a different way of life, a different cultural and political scene. Experience different weather: the chilling cold of the winter, the crispness of the fall… a real change of seasons. I learned practical things such as driving often in pouring rain and snow. If you are an athlete, I strongly suggest that you accept a scholarship only to those schools that hold for you something more than your sport. That unexpected injury that disables you might leave you high and dry in a very unappetizing place. Dare to think differently about your future.  
Lower School: 11052 Independence Avenue
Middle and Upper School: 20801 Rinaldi Street
Chatsworth, CA 91311  | 818.882.8121
Sierra Canyon School is a private, independent, non-sectarian, co-educational, college preparatory school for students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12 located in Chatsworth, California. The highly cosmopolitan campus community is reflective of the Greater Los Angeles area and the world at large. Students are empowered to realize their greatest creative, ethical, intellectual and physical promise through small class sizes, a diverse student-teacher culture and a family-like environment.