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I liked Fox chase so much that I wanted to keep being there even if it meant like an unpaid position. So I always tell students now like even if it's an unpaid position it's good for the experience. 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,

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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? where we will share some fun facts about Manor College that you may or may not know. Did you know that some of the best advice for college students is also some of the most simple advice? I have a whiteboard outside of my office where I post a weekly question and people stop by and they write an answer. And last week's question prompt was one of my favorites. It was best advice for

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students. Lots of advice was scribbled on the whiteboard, but my personal favorite that I saw was it said if it's not on the calendar, it won't get done. This really spoke to me as I am someone who kind of lives by the calendar both here at work and in my personal life for our family calendar. Practical, accurate. I really like that one. Another great one was ask questions. So obviously what is missing? What do you feel is some advice that you um have learned over the years that you want to

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share with our students? Email us at the nest@manor.edu and tell us the best advice that you think is for college students. Today's episode is sponsored by Manor College's bird feed. Did you know that some Manor College students struggle with food insecurity? Manor College is proud to be an official PA hunger-free campus. Our bird feed food pantry provides a vital lifeline offering non-p perishable food and toiletries to those in need. But we can't do it without you. Your donation

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of canned goods, dry goods, or financial contributions help us keep the bird feed stocked all year long so that no one in our campus is going hungry. Learn how you can help by visiting manor.edu/birdfeed. That's manor.edu/birdfeed. Coming up, we have a very special guest, someone who is making a real difference in the world of clinical research. Originally from Philadelphia, our guest is a proud alumna from girls high right down the road here on only a she came to Mayor College and immersed herself in

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campus life serving as a presidential ambassador, a member of the lead program and even became the president of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. After graduating in 2023 with a bachelor of science and health services, she has gone on to an incredibly important role as a clinical research data specialist at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. Please join me in welcoming our guest Zoma Qurashi. Hi Zoma. >> Hi Kelly. How are you? >> It's so good to see you. I'm doing well. Thank you for joining us today on the

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show. So, Zoma, tell us a little bit about how did you hear about Manor College and why did you decide to attend? >> Yeah, so my both my older sisters went to Manor College. They're both Manor alumni. So, they both graduated in about 2015 2016. And I remember when I was applying for colleges my senior year of high school, um Manor College was one of the schools I applied to. Um it was not my choice at the time. And then I won't say any names, but I went to the college of my choice and they were more

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expensive than I thought they would be. Um, got scholarships, all the financial aid, everything went through, but it was still too pricey. And I ended up withdrawing after like my first week. Um, and then I came over to Manor and they had gotten me all situated before classes started. Um, all that good stuff. And I chose my major as a health service, um, like bachelor's degree. Wow. I love that. I I know a little bit about your family history at Manor is roots run deep here with your family and

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your sisters in particular. I know you're one of four and we've been lucky enough to have all four um girls come to the school. So, that's really special. You're what we call like a legacy family. Um but I I love your story about how like you went somewhere else and you realized pretty quickly, oh wow, this is really expensive for me. um I'm gonna I'm going to change and and typically you know coming into another institution once like ad drop hits it's like oh it's

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really hard to figure those things out. So I'm glad that you were able to um pivot to Manor College and continue your family's journey here because that's really cool. Um what was it like what you were in college when any sisters were here as well? I know I think you were right. >> Um I don't think so. I think when I got to actually no so when I graduated from Manor in 2023 my second older sister she had graduated with her master's degree from Temple. So she was also in college

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around the same time that I was. So I was getting my bachelor's and she was getting her master's degree and um I remember like I went to her graduation one week at Temple and then she came to mine the following week and then we had like a big party like at my house and stuff and it was really really cute and everything. So, we had like a nice little birdie like graduation party in my house. We had the owls and like the blue jays and stuff. It's very cute. >> Oh, that is cute. Yeah, I love that. Oh,

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that's so fun. Um, that's great. So, tell us, Zo, what was it like for you as a student? Like, what were you involved with? What was kind of like your college experience like? >> Yeah, so my freshman year I was a work study for the library. Um, and then in the spring COVID hit. Um so a lot of my uh Manor College experience was online but I remember when we had um like right before like we had started to come back onto campus I had gotten hired to be a library assistant on campus. Um I have

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previous experience working in public libraries so they thought I'd be a good fit and I was working as a library assistant so I was an employee for the college. Um I was also a student so I got to go to both like the student events and the staff events. It was really really cool. Um I loved my time here. I was president of Phi Theta Kappa program as you mentioned earlier. Um and then I was also presidential ambassador. >> Yeah, you you did it. I feel like you had such a well-rounded experience here

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where you got to like do a little bit of everything. Um except for athletics. I guess that wasn't that wasn't your thing, but >> it wasn't my thing. But I think once we got back from COVID, I was kind of just like I want to do everything now because I missed out on so much during the pandemic and I was like now I'm going to do everything. I'm gonna end this year with like a bang before I leave. >> Yeah, that's a really good way that's a really good like positive take on on the

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pandemic. You know, the pandemic was was so negative for so many um so many good reasons, but your outlook of like, okay, I'm going to like seize the moment and like get involved and do all the things. Um I think Zoma, you were part of the first group of presidential ambassadors. It's a it's a relatively um popular group on campus of students who kind of go to admissions events and represent the college as like a student influencer. And um it's a group that I get to co-advise with my colleague Ali

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Mootz, our dean of students and someone was part of that first group. So that's a really special group for me. Kind of like our first class of students. I'm really proud that you were one of those. Um talk to me about your classes and studying health services. How did you know that was a field that you wanted to pursue? >> Yeah, so I've always been somebody who's like science, healthcare, all that stuff. Um, that's why I've chose the health services program in the first

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place. But like when I got to Manor, I think I really started to develop that love for like medicine. And when I took anatomy courses and biology and micro and nutrition and like I just loved learning about the human body so much and I knew that I wanted to work in healthcare, but you can ask anyone here. Everyone knew I was struggling to decide what exactly I wanted to do after I graduated, but I just knew that I wanted to work in healthcare at a hospital or like with like helping patients in whatever way I could. Um, but like I

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struggled with my four years of like trying to figure out what I wanted to do, which is like totally totally natural, totally normal. So many students don't know what to study, don't know even within that study then where to go. Oh, if you're studying business, it's like, okay, now now what's next? So, I think that's totally natural. So, did you feel that the health services gave you enough of like a foundation that then you could kind of pick specialty areas? >> Oh my gosh, absolutely. I always tell

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people that like taking anatomy and courses like medical terminology has helped me so much in my career as a data specialist. Like I've learned like so many things and now I'm a tutor for anatomy and those courses that I was studying like I tutor those courses now. So, I help students pass their anatomy exams and their biology and nutrition exams and it just feels like so good and like using those study tips that help me and like giving them to students and helping them pass their exams. And I

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tell people all the time like there's no un like feeling like like hearing that a student passed after I tutored them. Like that's like the best feeling and it's why I still do what I do here for the past like two or three years. >> Oh, I love that. Yeah. Thank you so much for like giving back. What a great way to give back to your alma mater is like by being a tutor and like sharing what you've learned and what you've know. I'm sure students really appreciate that and

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frankly we need good tutors. So that's really helpful. Um tell us about what you do for your career, what um I'm you know I don't work in the medical field obviously, but like what is a clinical research data specialist? It's a lot of words. Um what does that actually mean and what does your role mean to you? Yeah. So, we have a ton of cancer clinical trials at Fox chase. Um, we have different disease sites. So, we have like the gastrointestinal team. We have the sarcoma melanoma team. We have the

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genital urinary team. I am on the women's health team. So, my job basically includes entering and managing data for our clinical trials and on like gynecological and breast cancers. Basically, that's what my study portfolio includes. So I basically enter and manage the data into our softwares and when these studies close those results and that data gets pulled and that's how we publish results and get like all the information that we need to show that like this drug is effective versus like drugs that are already

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approved or like comparing drugs to other drugs that are already like on the market. >> Oh wow. That's complicated. It sounds complicated, but it sounds so important. And like you just think like doctors, you think of them doing the medical stuff, but there's so much more behind it. There's so much more. There's research, there's data, there's business, there's so much more. That's awesome. And um obviously Fox J Cancer Center is a pretty well-known entity in

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the area. How has your experience been? And how did you get this job? Was it um an internship that led you to it or what was your pathway to it? because you're a really recent grad with like a full-time job and employment. This is something that a lot of our students are striving for. And how did you do it? >> Yeah. So, I I love what I do. Like, I was just recently promoted back in April to a DA specialist, too. I just recently got certified the other day as a clinical research professional. And

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>> Congratulations. That's awesome. >> Thank you. Yeah. And um when I was at Manor, I was interning at Fox Chase with the help of my boss at the time. I'll probably get into that a little more later, but he basically helped me land this internship by show like kind of telling me like start looking for your internship junior year. Don't wait till your senior year, the year that you're graduating to look for an internship because they're not easy gets. And I started off by getting like a summer

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internship, a paid one. And I liked what I did there, but I wasn't fully in love with it, but it did teach me like what I didn't want to do for a career. And then I eventually started becoming like an intern volunteer. Like I liked Fox chase so much that I wanted to keep being there even if it meant like an unpaid position. So I always tell students now like even if it's an unpaid position it's good for the experience like definitely it's like even those kind of experiences are hard to get like in this

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day and age. So when you find an opportunity like that just take it like you need the experience to land a job. Um but yeah, I interned with them for about like six to nine months and then I started applying for positions talking to the human resources people there and after the interning and volunteering they eventually got to know me and they believe it or not human resources was the one who reached out to me and said hey like you know we interviewed you for other positions we don't think you were

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a fit for those but there's a position that we think you would be great for in clinical research how does this sound and I think a lot of people especially me I didn't think that like human resources would be calling me and being like, "Hey, there's a job." Like I kind of just thought like, you know, I had these interviews in the past, they didn't work out, moving along. But when I got that email, I was very like shocked and I remember interviewing thinking I like completely blew the

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interview. And then when I got the job, I was ecstatic. I was just like, "Oh my gosh, like this is something that worked out for me." And it just it ended up being something that I truly love. And I don't think I could ever see myself being in clinical research when I was at Manor. Like that's just something I couldn't picture myself doing. I didn't know how much goes into clinical research, how much goes into clinical trials. I had no idea that there's like a whole team of business people like how

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you said there's a whole like marketing aspect to it. There's a whole like, you know, there's so many laws and ethical like things behind it. So, I didn't know any of those things going into it. And I think now that I'm I've been in it for two to three years, like I'm learning just how much goes into approving a drug before it goes onto the market. >> Yeah. Wow. I love that. I love that story how it started with like an internship and just like being willing to like serve people and help people.

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and Fox Chase Cancer Center saw that in you and they saw like wow she is might not be the best fit for for this role, but her character, her passion for this is a fit for our um organization. So, major kudos to Fox chase Cancer Center and their HR team for like finding good people who they know, you know what I mean? That's really cool that they did that for you and I'm so happy. But I love your internship advice. I want to pause on that for a minute because I think that's really critical.

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So many students um they're eager, they want internships, but they they wait a little too late and you know they're competing against other students from other schools and and Philadelphia is one of the largest college um areas in the United States. So there's a lot of competition out there for internships at different organizations. So um giving getting that advice to like start your junior year, I'd even say start even earlier if you can. I always tell students, try to get multiple

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internships while you're in college because then you can kind of figure out what you do and don't like. Um, I like to tell the story when I was in college, I had four internships over my college career and I had one, which is kind of funny, I I had I had one at a magazine. I actually had two in a magazine. I really thought I was going to go into magazines. like that was going to be I probably watched too many romcom movies in the 2000s and thought that I was going to like move to New York and work

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in a magazine. It's going to be awesome. But then I had an internship at a magazine and I absolutely was miserable and I had another one another magazine and I hated it as well. So it was really good to like kind of give you a reality check of what you do and don't like. Um but um Zoma, was there anyone at Manor who was really like your cheerleader, inspirational, someone who or multiple people who were just really um your IT people, your go-tos while you were a student? >> Yeah. So, I would have to say the first

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person has to be my boss at the time when I was a library assistant, Richard Jutkiewicz. He was the head librarian at the time. He was also al also the director of career services which is fairly newer because he was the first to like be that person for people. So like this was when handshake came out and all those other things and like the career closet like he did all those things but he was the one who told me to look for this internship my junior year and he was the one who helped me with my resume. He helped me like prepare for

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the interview like by asking me like throwing questions at me and like you know kind of prepping me like teaching me about like professionalism, sending a thank you letter after an interview like all those different things like he taught me how to do. And then I remember like he was the one of the first people I told after I landed the job. He was so excited for me and even now like when I post things on LinkedIn like he's the first one of the first people to congratulate me. We still email back and

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forth. Like he was like he even he taught me how to do my taxes, Kelly. like it was hilarious and he was he was also like a business professor. He had an MBA so he helped me with like all the different things and he was also like my biggest supporter at the time. He helped me learn so much about like working and like careers and all those different things. But like professor-wise, I would have to say like I think everybody can attest to these. Dr. Dori, she's still my biggest cheerleader. We have lunch

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scheduled together in two weeks. Like it's great how I like keep these relationships with these like with these professors that helped me get to where I am today. Dr. Crosby, um Jenny Buechel, like they're all I talk to them like all the time. They're always here. >> My younger sister is here. So I like see the professors as I'm dropping her off and like you know wave to each other. But like I still keep in contact with all these people. And I think that's like the biggest thing about like being

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part of the Manor community. We're just all so close. We're like a family, >> right? I absolutely love that. We're definitely a family for better or for worse. Um, and it's really cool. It's cool that like you went from your actual family and then you know, Anupa, Ramesa, you and Mania now are all have had your own Manor experiences where you got like another family, an extended part of your family. Um, I love that. And obviously Rich was a huge influence for you and is still today. And that's

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really special that even when you graduate, even when you move on from Manor, um the people that you meet here, the people that are in your lives are going to remain in your lives in in those ways cheering you on. And that's really what it's all about at the end of the day. Um so Z, what advice would you give to current students? Why is Manor a great choice for them? I think my biggest piece of advice is to use the resources that you have available to you here. Like you're

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paying your tuition and you're here for a lot of the day. Use the resources that are presented to you. If you're a science student, use the anatomy models in the library. If you're a physical textbook person, use the physical textbook course reserves in the library. Like I'm a big advocator for the library, but there's other things. Your professors are resources. They can help you with finding jobs like the career the career services there's people around Manor who are willing to help

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you at all times. So your professors staff members there's computers we have laptops and now I heard that students are getting laptops and stuff too. So I think all those different kinds of resource tutoring you can come to me for tutoring that's a resource like you don't have to pay for it like you do at other colleges like all of those different things are all resources that are available to you to use. So use them to your advantage. Participate in clubs. Take initiative in kind of like leading

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projects and things, you know, do public speaking things like just anything that you feel like you can do better in. Find an opportunity to do that thing while you're here. It's the best place to test and start new things. You can start a club. You can do all those different kinds of things here at Manor. >> That's great. I love I love the plug for resources obviously because we do we have so many resources here at Manor College and we have wraparound services. We take a really holistic approach to

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students. So obviously we want them to get a degree and you know get good grades and do all those academic things. But there's tutoring, there's a food pantry, there's a career closet, there's a safe fund in case you need help paying a bill that month. There's academic support, there's a library, there's free, you know, free laptops. We're giving free meals to some students. There are so many ways to not just get help and support, but like make yourselves better. If you're a B student

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and you want to be an A student, we have support for that. If you're a D student and you want to become a C student, we have ways to help you. So, definitely um I totally echo what you're saying, Zoma, is like we have the resources, but students have to use the resources, you know? So, that's really important. But then also you're talking about like something you want to be better at. Like college is a great place to like practice things and like it's okay to fail in college. It's like a little

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bubble. It's safe if you mess up. It's okay. We'll give you grace. Um so definitely try to step out of your comfort zone. I think a lot of alumni give that advice is like use Manor to like step out of your comfort zone, meet new people. Um, and don't be don't be shy because this is a good safe space to like do that where you're gonna be okay. >> Thank you so much, Zoma, for spending some time with us. We wish you nothing but the best and I know we'll be seeing

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you around campus um either as tutoring or when you're hanging out with Mania, who I get to see all the time as she's one of our marketing interns. Um, but thanks Zoma so much and wishing you all the best. >> Thanks, Kelly. >> Thank you for tuning in today. If you like what you heard, listen and subscribe on Spotify or YouTube. 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

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about life after Manor College. Remember Blue Jays, you belong here always.