Student Spotlight
Alexander Kennedy, cyber future
A computer techie in high school, Alexander Kennedy knows that his passion will lead to a bright future in the cyber security field.
Alexander graduated from Spruce Mountain High School in Jay and chose SMCC for its academic offerings, affordable tuition and location, far enough but not too far from home.
Once he learned about the Cyber Security program, he knew that was the program for him. Besides taking Cyber Security classes, he works for the IT Department, meaning he’ll have a degree and real-world work experience when he graduates this spring.
With 34 percent job growth projected over the next decade in the cyber security field, he’s confident there will be plenty of high-paying job prospects in the future.
“It’s very exciting to think that with cyber security, I’ll be able to make the money I want and still do something I love.”
Alumni Spotlight
Michaela McVetty, on the go
Michaela McVetty is only 25. But that hasn’t stopped her from owning and operating four different businesses.
Michaela studied business at SMCC for two years and later transferred to the University of Southern Maine, where she’s now studying Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management.
It was after SMCC and before USM that she and a friend started what would become her first business, a food cart called “Wicked Good Wieners,” selling hot dogs, pulled pork and nachos in Old Orchard Beach. She was later a partner in Fit to Eat sandwich shop and White Cap Grille, both in Portland’s Old Port.
Last May, she opened Sisters Gourmet Deli (www.sistersgourmetdeli.com) in Portland’s Monument Square. At its annual Indie Biz Awards last month, Portland Buy Local named Sisters Gourmet Deli its New Business of the Year.
Michaela doesn’t know what he future holds. Her head, she says, is always full of ideas.
“I probably learned the word ‘entrepreneurship’ sometime in high school, but I think I’ve always been this way.”