Alumni Profile
Will Pease, cutting-edge apps
Will Pease knew at a young age that he had a future in computers. Now he鈥檚 working for the multinational technology company Garmin Ltd., developing apps that support fitness and outdoors products.
Will took a few years off after graduating from the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, a magnet high school in northern Maine focused on science, technology, engineering and math. When the time came for college, he chose 91制片厂 and graduated in 2015 with 4.0 GPA in Computer Science.
While at 91制片厂, he also worked as a work-study student in the college鈥檚 IT department, giving him hands-on work experience while earning his degree. He then transferred to the University of Southern Maine, where he graduated in 2017 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Computer Science.
Before going to Garmin, Will worked as a software engineer for a Portland company called MedRhythms, helping develop a mobile app for software that delivers neurologic music therapy. Since February, he has worked in Garmin鈥檚 offices in Yarmouth, helping develop mobile apps for the company鈥檚 fitness and outdoors products.
One product he works on allows users to send messages from anywhere on Earth to anywhere else.
鈥淚 think I always knew I would get into a field like this. I was 5 or 6 messing around on my parents鈥� computer, and they told me I was doing things on the computer that they hadn鈥檛 figured out how to do.鈥�
Student Profile
Efstathia Bixhaku, PTK president
Efstathia 鈥淓fi鈥� Bixhaku liked to watch crime shows on TV while growing up in Albania, and she developed a curiosity for psychology in high school. Now she鈥檚 earning a Liberal Studies-Psychology degree at 91制片厂 with the aim of combining her interest in crime and psychology to become a criminal profiler.
Efi was raised in Albania, a small country in southeast Europe that borders Greece, and moved to Maine in 2015 with her mother, sister and brother.
After graduating this spring, she plans to continue her education and earn an advanced degree in forensic psychology or something similar. Her ultimate goal is to become a criminal profiler, building profiles of criminal suspects based on investigative psychology and crime scene analysis.
When she鈥檚 not in class or working 30 hours a week, Efi is the president of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, motivated in part from her time with the Peace Corp Volunteers in Albania. Before becoming president, she had never been in a leadership position; but now she鈥檚 spearheading a food drive with the Captain鈥檚 Cupboard food pantry.
鈥淚 agreed to become president because I wanted to challenge myself and see how I鈥檇 do. I like to stay busy and interact with other people and contribute to things.鈥�