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[Music] Hello Blue Jays and welcome to the nest stories about life after Manor College. I am your host Kelly Peiffer vice president of marketing communications and this is the best part of my day. My hope is that this podcast will encourage, inform, and inspire you, making you feel like at Manor College you belong here always. Before we get to today's guest, it is time for a segment of the show I like to call Did You Know? Today's Did You Know is particularly exciting because it's about one of my favorite people here at Manor College.

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So, did you know that the best coffee at Manor College isn't really found in a cafe or in the cafeteria, but it's at the front desk. For over 40 years, Anne Kiczula, or Miss Anne, as many call her, has been the warm, welcoming presence behind the front desk of our Basileiad Manor, also known as our library building. Her morning ritual is truly the stuff of legends. So, every day she comes in and she brews her signature percolated coffee, a secret blend that even includes a splash of half and half,

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and usually lays out some kind of sweet treats um with maybe school stickers or buttons or pens on the front counter for anyone to enjoy. Ann's always good for a cheerful good morning, how are you? Or how you doing honey? Um, but it's really more about that more than just the coffee. Ann started working at Manor herself in the late 1950s. Ann is an alum of the school and um back in the day and ran the bookstore and she ran the bookstore over in Help Hall when the building opened in 1961 and earned her degree at Manor in 1971.

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And so she started working for the school before she earned her degree and has worked under six college presidents, has witnessed countless transformations, and just has met thousands of people from Manor College. She seems to remember names. She seems to remember facts and information about you and your family and whatever you have going on in your life. that never ceases to amaze me. How Ann really takes the time to get to know you, ask about you, care. Um, if you ever show her pictures of your

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family or whatever's going on, she loves looking at that. So, her kindness and her devotion to Manor College and what is what truly makes an special and unique. So, it's countless to say that she embodies what I call the Brazilian spirit. Making sure that everyone feels like they belong. Whether you're a student, a professor, a delivery driver, she knows very well all of the delivery drivers, UPS, postal service, FedEx, Amazon. Many call her Manor's mom. Um my joke around about an is that she found

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her seat as a receptionist and then manor was built around her because where her area is is literally at the base in the middle of our three buildings. So to in my perspective she is truly at the heart of our campus and is the heart. So what really makes the coffee so good? It might be a little cinnamon, but mostly it's on Today's episode is sponsored by Manor College's criminal justice program. Dreaming of a law career? Manor College and Widener University Delaware Law School have partnered on a fast track to

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your success. Get your bachelor's and jurist doctorate in just six years with our 3 plus3 program, saving you time and money. Plus, guaranteed admissions win a minimum of $20,000 scholarship. Invest in your future and start planning today. Learn more at manor.edu. We have a truly special guest with us today. An alumni who attended Neshaminy High School, graduated from Manor College in 1990 with her associates degree in paralegal certificate. She then went on to earn her bachelor's in business management from University of

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Pennsylvania's Wharton School and then got her JD from Widener University Law School. Today she is a shareholder and member of Stark and Stark accident and personal injury group where she concentrates her practice in representing children and adults seriously injured or killed due to catastrophic personal injuries, construction accidents, workplace accidents, and many more. She is a trial attorney who has successfully litigated personal injury matters resulting in verdicts in excess of a million dollars.

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Please join me in welcoming Karen O'Donnell to the nest. Welcome, Karen. Oh, thank you for having me. I so appreciate Thank you so much. It's so nice to be back. Yeah. No, it's so fun. We've been um really enjoying talking to alumni this past year. Every Friday we have a new episode come out and I'm so grateful that you found time in your busy schedule to talk to us. So kind of start us off by how did you first hear about Manor College and kind of make that decision to attend. So my story is a little bit uh one of

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reluctance initially. So, um, I used to be a gymnast and so out of high school, all my friends were going to bigger schools and I wanted to go to a big school and because I was a gymnast, I ended up doing gymnastics at Westchester. Within a couple weeks, I injured my knee and that resulted in me coming home and really not being able to go back to Westchester because I needed a couple surgeries. And so, my mom always, even during high school, said to me, "You should go to Manor. you should go to

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Manor. And at that time it was Manor Junior College. So, you know, when I say I was a little bit reluctant, all my friends were going to like bigger schools and I was like, I didn't want to go to a small school. Like it just was kind of that like little bit of peer pressure. But I found myself at home and really not being able to go back to a bigger school cuz I was, you know, I had crutches at one point and I had my leg in a brace. And just hearing my mom saying that she had such a great

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experience at Manor, I was like, "Fine, I'll go." So, Manor really needed to convince me that this was a school for me. And they were able to do so like immediately. I mean, I went there, I inquired about the paralegal program and it just kind of hooked me. I mean, there was just such a personal connection. And I already had the experience of going to a big school. Um, and it wasn't like that at all. You were kind of dropped in the middle of a million people. They didn't know when you went to class, when you didn't. They

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didn't care about like what was and I I shouldn't be saying that about I'm just saying in general big schools. Understood. Of course. It was just a different experience. It matters what I'm trying uh to convey. So, so that's kind of how I ended up at Manor. And when I say reluctance because I was I uh maybe in part didn't want to listen to my mom at that point and that age like so many people do when they're young and in part, you know, did feel a little bit of a peer pressure from just my friends and my friends

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group to to be, you know, at a bigger school. And it turns out it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Well, mother certainly knows best, right? I think we can attest to that sometimes. But I think your story still really resonates with a lot of high schoolers and and and young people today and that like their parents want them to do one thing, they want to go with their friends and do another thing and then life kind of gets at them and then they end up maybe doing what their parents wanted them to do in the beginning. I

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love that your mom is an alum, too. I think that's so cool. you guys are what we call like a legacy family where multiple generations of the same family came to came to the institution. So that's really special. Um, but it's neat that you were able to have kind of both experiences in a way. Like you saw what a big school was like and you can like see yourself what that was like and what that would do for you. But then also you saw at Manor like oh this is different and and I get this attention

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and I can't really slip through the cracks because they're just not going to let me do that cuz it is so small. Um, I always say that at Manor, like not only we know our students names, but we know like at least multiple facts about them, you know, what what they got going on in their life, where they work, what their dreams are, where their hometown is, and possibly more than that, too. So, um, and it does make a difference. I mean to you just feel like you're a part of a community and you feel like you're a

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part of something and you you know I know our tagline is you belong here but that is so true at Manor and when we talk about a small school like back then it was small you know I mean Manor has come so far from I mean I was 1990 for gosh sakes you know I mean the things that we're doing here at Manor now are just on big school level with that smaller you know, personal touch and caring. So, I think it just has come so far and really gives you a combination of both. Yeah. Well, that's great to hear.

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And um yeah, definitely we want to be that like really homey atmosphere for people, but yet they still can succeed in big careers and have big dreams. And um when we were coming up with our tagline for our new brand back in 2017, one of the other taglines that we didn't go with, but we we kind of have used as kind of like secondary messaging was believing in you is our favorite thing to do. And even though we didn't pick it for our tagline because I think you belong here is just kind of a nicer,

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more succinct way to encompass who we are. I still love that believing in you is our favorite thing to do because I think it's so true. like believing in our students is truly what we're here for. Um, and trying to help them achieve whatever they're trying to achieve. So, that's so cool. So, tell us, you know, go ahead. If we if there really wasn't that belief in the school itself and that in the programs, I I really don't think that I would be where I am now. I mean, you know, next year I'll be

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the the president of the whole Commonwealth, the state trial lawyers. You know, I'm a trial lawyer. I'm a partner here at Stark and Stark. And you know, Manor really set me on that journey, you know, into law. I mean, it really captivated me with their par power par power par power par power par power par power par power par power par power par power paralegal program. Um, so somebody believed in me along the way, including Manor. Yeah, of course. So why um I guess how did you know that following a law career was something

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that you wanted to do? How did you know that that was kind of what you wanted to go into? you know, I don't know that I really knew until, you know, my second year at Manor. Um, again, I kind of went into the program a little reluctant, like I didn't really want to go here. What is this all about? You know, and to Manor's credit, at that time, paralegal's were becoming like a force in the workforce. You know, there was really like a need for paralegal's, and Manor had that program. So, you know, I

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knew I wasn't that great at math and I was like, "Okay, you know, let's try this paralegal program." And at the time, I'm going to I'm going to name drop. But Diane Pevar started that program and it was kind of in its infantile stages. Um, and it was just kind of captivating for me just the legal research and um, you know, what you could do and the program itself. I mean, we learned civil procedure, we learned the whole aspect of law in that program. And then when I I got my associates degree, I I had to get a

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bachelor's before I could go to law school, so I had to finish that. But it was kind of at that point that I knew that that's where I wanted to end up um ultimately. Oh, that's so cool. I think um and I love that you I love that you named out Diane Pevar. You certainly and when I think of like manner like legends particularly like people who really have made an impact on so many Diane Pevar is a name that certainly comes to mind. She's retired now and we're happy for her in that retirement life but she

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certainly was so influential in starting so many great programs here. Paralegal being like a one of the flagship ones. Um we now have pre like a pre-law and a public policy. We have a pre-law and a law um articulation agreement with Widener University where I know you got your um JD from and students can take three years at Manor and then go three years at Widener for that total JD um degree which uh we're still working on finding students who have completed all of that because I would love to have

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them on the show and have kind of that like alumni story. Um, but that that's so cool to hear and I think that's so special that you were able to realize like, okay, I'm good at these things. I'm not good at math. Maybe I could follow this. That's good self-awareness. And I think a lot of people really struggle with knowing like what should I do and how does, you know, XYZ lead to this? It's hard. It's a hard thing to figure out, right? I think it's so frustrating, too. And I and this

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is another reason why I think Manor was just so, you know, great for me and it is just great for for students in general. You know, people in high school, they sit down with their advisor's and they say, "What do you want to do in life?" And I just think it's such an unfair question because how do you know like you haven't had life experiences, right? And Manor kind of for me was like, well, what are you interested in? Like it was a different frame. It was framed differently when I sat and met at matter and I was like

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well you know this is something I could be interested I know I'm not interested in math because I know I'm not. So it was kind of like we ruled out things. It wasn't an approach of what do you want to do in life because how do you know right? So that investment in people and really getting to know people's interest I think is just something that Manor strives at you know it's not like I sat with an adviser and they say what do you want to do in life like I didn't know you know I I had no idea so many options

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I mean it's not just like okay doctor lawyer teacher like there's so many things right and honestly what I thought I wanted to do like when I went to my first school I thought I was going to be a psychologist like that's what I thought cuz I was like, "Okay." And turns out that's not what I ended up doing. And it probably was not going to be a strength of mine. But if I didn't end up at Manor and had the questions kind of posed to me in that way, I probably would have picked something different because like you said, you

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hear these things like, you know, marketing or right, you know what you know. You that's all you just know what you know. you need other people to come into your life and like make you either think differently or present different options or kind of like pull it out of you, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that's something and advice that I could give to students, you know, don't worry about where you're going to end up. Focus on what your interests are and you know, you'll be guided by people

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in your life and things that'll ultimately get you there. Sure. Yeah, that that's great advice. like follow your interest and then align careers will align with that and you'll be much happier frankly if you're doing something that you're interested in opposed to just kind of following a career. So true. So true. That's great. Um, so, so Karen, can you talk to us about like your career and, um, I guess what is it, what is it like being a trial attorney and kind of in your role um, that that people would find

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maybe interesting or they didn't really realize and kind of what is it like in a like a a career as a full-time lawyer? So to answer that question, I do need to give you a little bit of history because as I said, I went through the Manor paralegal program and at that time you were required to have um an internship. So as part of the program, Manor aligned me with a law firm. Um and I did my internship with the law firm and I ended up being hired there as a paralegal and worked there for several years. So that

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was kind of like my first job. Um, so ultimately, you know, I did my undergrad, I went to the Wharton School, and then I went to Widener uh to complete my JD. And because of my first internship, I became interested in personal injury. Like that's what I did for my internship at Manor. That's what I've learned. Um, and that's what I've stuck with. And so for for me, my journey as an attorney was actually founded in my paralegal experience because I learned to help victims of all different types of not

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only injuries, but like right now I do uh sexual assault cases and people don't think of that in a a criminal sense or in a civil sense. They only think of it in a criminal sense. So on a civil side, I'm able to help victims of injuries, but it's not just like a car crash, you know, people who are devastated by things that happen to them in life. So, so it's been a journey. It's always, you know, it's in every day is different. Um, you know, it's a it's always a struggle with time management and

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balancing life, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who does that in in my career um as an as an attorney. But you just got to, like I said, be focused on something that you're interested in. And, you know, I think if you can do that, you'll thrive and survive and do well in whatever area you choose. I can't believe that what you did as an internship, you know, 30 plus years ago is still, you know what I mean? What you're doing now. I think that's pretty remarkable and and really cool to show that um that interest really sparked in

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you and here you are still passionate about it. That's really neat to see. It's also neat that, you know, where I did my internship, I still talk to that firm and throughout my career, you know, if I ever needed anything or needed guidance, I would pop in or stop in and um you know, to this day, I think they'd probably take me back um as an intern as an intern or an attorney, frankly. But um you know but it just goes to say like the foundation and the work ethic that kind of Manor instilled in me um you know has kind of

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made a reputation for me you know so many years later. So um again it really did kind of change my trajectory in life by going to Manor. Oh wow that's awesome. I love I always love it when um alumni can kind of reflect back and see that like Manor was like this foundation you know it was kind of like my base my home. my foundation and then like I built things upon that. I think that's really a beautiful like picture and illustration for um perspective students and students to be like I'm living I'm

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living the college life right now and it's hard and I'm frustrated and some classes are harder than others but like it's hard to see that like you're in the foundation right now. Um but it's good to hear it from alumni who've like been there done that and now can have that reflection moment. Yeah. And for me like definitely built upon that you know I was paralegal and then I went and got my my bachelor's degree and then I got my my uh law degree and then after that you know I started working as a lawyer

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and then eventually made partner and now I'm in statewide organizations. I'm going to be president of that. So I mean you have to build on right a good foundation and definitely Manor is that for me. That's awesome. So, what's like a myth about lawyers that you want to you want to bust? What's something that um people assume from like television and like popular media that like they get wrong that's really not true about lawyers? Anything that comes to mind that's kind of interesting or fun? Um, I would like to think, you know,

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especially in personal injury, I think sometimes there's a little bit of um cynical, you know, people are cynical like, "Oh, you're an ambulance chaser." And, you know, they don't really appreciate what we do. I mean, we do change lives. Um, and we do for fight. We do fight for people that don't have voices. And it's really an honorable profession to be in. But you know there's a lot of jo lawyer jokes out there and people make fun of the profession but you know it it's some it's very empowering to be in front to

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be in court to be a trial lawyer to be able to again help someone who either didn't have a voice or didn't know how to get the help that they needed. So um so I think the myth is you know don't make so many I think the message should be don't make so many lawyer jokes right it's not a joke it's not a joke it's an empowering feel that's changing lives I mean that's that's definitely the crux of it sounds like um and as a as a female I mean I think lawyers are one of those professions where it's still

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pretty heavily male-dominated um any any things that you've observed over the years how industry is is changing for the better in that sense and how women are getting more of a voice and and just getting more there are more women attorneys. Yeah. So there definitely is a change going on. I mean I've been practicing now for seems like forever. And when I started practicing I mean I would be the only female in a room and you know I have to say frankly that still occurs. You know I'll be in a deposition and it's me versus you know

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six six men. So I do see more women coming into the field. You know I'm a trial lawyer and it's it can be grueling and you know there is statistics that a lot of women don't want to be trial lawyers because it's just a lot of time demands. So for me um I do see some change in the legal field in general but there's not a lot of trial lawyer coming through that are women just because it's just tough. It's just a lot of time. It's a lot of demand. I was lucky enough to have a husband who

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helped me balance that. Um, you know, when I couldn't be at something, he stepped up and there was never an issue. But you definitely need people. Um, it's definitely not a profession I think that you could kind of do solo. You need support for sure. So, but I am grateful to see, you know, more women getting into the field even if it's not becoming, you know, trial lawyers. um you know people women are rising in all all different kinds of areas of the law. Well that's good. That's good that more

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more women are doing that and it it takes a village certainly. Um and it's good that you had a good marriage partner who was going to kind of kind of be there for you and kind of support your career. That that's awesome. So Karen, as we kind of follow um follow up and kind of close out our episode here, what's some advice that you have for current Manor students who are in just the beginning of their their journeys? What advice would you give for them? So I think I have a couple things. I think

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time management should be an issue with all kinds of students. Um I think that's one of the biggest things that you have to learn in um business in whatever type of career. Um I just see more and more that people tend to you know procrastinate and think they can do it and you know it's just hard to manage everything. So whatever you need to implement tools you know time management for students I think should be focused on and I don't know that you can really teach that right. So, it's just something I think students need to

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be aware of. The second overall thing is, you know, your story is not going to be everybody else's story. And if your path isn't the path everyone else is taking, then that's fine because you'll find your way. And I certainly didn't take a path that everyone else did. And I would like to say that I found my way. So, when you think you're down and out or you think that, you know, this isn't the way it's supposed to be, for some reason, you will find your way out. and it is the way it's supposed to be. That's great. So,

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believe I love I love both of those. But, so for time management, what's like um something that works for you or like it's a good like tip that you've learned that like oh, this is really really helpful. So, for me, I think you have to look at yourself, right? So, for me, I'm a morning person. So, for me, like I have my to-dos in the morning. my kids, they're in college and they can work on things at seven o'clock at night where that's like where their strengths are. So, just kind of getting a

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structure that focuses on your strengths and also be able to say to people like, "No, I need to do this for me right now." Um, I think so many time students want to take on everything, you know, be involved in everything. It is okay to say no. you know, just be good at what you're doing and manage what you're doing. I always say like um finding balance is really hard, but like if you just choose to like focus on, okay, I'm going to focus on this one task for 45 minutes, that's better than you have focusing on

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like five tasks at the same time, right? you know, like really zone in, get it done opposed to like having like imagine having all those like open like window tabs in your mind like you just can't do it. Just have one tab open, focus on it, move on in the next tab, right? And it's okay when that tab is open to say, "Let me get this done right now." You know, like I will talk to you, I will get back to you, I will meet up with you, I will put the phone in a drawer or, you know, like take out the distractions. Yes.

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Yeah. And I love also what you said about like having your own story, following your own path. We find often that students at Manor are coming with all different backgrounds and stories. And we have a lot of students who come from transfer schools or community colleges. Like not no two students are the same. And that's good. That's what makes us different. And that's kind of what kind of enriches everybody with their own experience. Um, it reminded me of we just had graduation this past May and we

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had we always have two student speakers at graduation. We have one that represents our associate degrees and one that represents the bachelor degrees. And it's kind of a a newer tradition that we have that started when we had our first group of bachelor degree students. And I love this year particularly the two student speakers were so different. one student took mostly online classes, worked full-time. Um, and she said like, "I was not here involved. I was not in the cafeteria hanging out. I was working full-time,

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taking classes online, emailing professors, and like that's who I was, and I love that experience." And then the other student speaker, she was involved in lots of campus activities. She was a leader on campus. she was physically present on campus and that was her experience and she loved it. And I just I I kind of love these two different pictures of what a college student likes looks like at Manor because I think it's giving permission to others. Like you can pick your own story, what works best for you

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in your life. And that's a good thing, right? But that's exactly what Manor is. like both of those students felt like they belong so much to Manor that they're speaking at graduation and they had both completely different experiences, right? And that's okay. But I do think, you know, there's a lot of pressure for high school students to be like, here's what you have to do. Here's what you need to follow. And I think when you get to Manor and you don't have that cookie cutter student, it just opens your eyes

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to like, I'm going to be okay. like I am going to be able to do it and I may do it a different way but I'll do it. Yep. Yeah. I love that. Um well Karen, thank you so much for spending time with us today. Um it's been really just exciting to talk to you and I think really informative too. I think you've given a lot of good perspective on what your experience was like but then also encouragement for um to others. We really want this podcast to be informative and encouraging. And I think you've hit you hit both. And I always

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like to tell alumni when um I talk to them. You know, our mission at Manor College is to prepare students to graduate to serve society effectively and compassionately and hearing about your career journey and what you're doing. You certainly are doing that. So, thank you so much for um fulfilling the mission of Manor College without really even know realizing it that you're doing that and just all the great work that you're doing. It's so important and um thank you for for spreading that to others who just need

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it. Oh, well, thank you for having me and I'm grateful. Thanks for tuning in today. If you like what you heard, listen and subscribe on Spotify or YouTube and stay up-to-date with all new episodes by following Manor College on Instagram at Manor College. And that's a wrap on another episode of the nest, stories about life after Manor College. Remember Blue Jays, you belong here always. [Music]