Built for What’s Next

Abrielle Mannino ’25 came to Rollins certain of two things: She wanted to become a lawyer, and she hated math. By the time she graduated, both convictions had shifted, reshaped by professors who knew her well enough to see both her potential and the possibilities she hadn’t yet imagined for herself.

“At Rollins, you meet so many people who pay attention to who you are as an individual,” says Mannino. “They push you to explore realms you wouldn’t otherwise consider.”

The first was philosophy professor Eric Smaw, whom she met at a webinar for students interested in pre-professional programs before classes even began. Over time, through classes, conversations, and consultations as her Debate Team advisor, Smaw recognized Mannino’s talent for writing, argumentation, and public speaking, and encouraged her to pursue research. She did so her senior year—an experience that set her on the path she’s forging now as a PhD candidate at Brown University.

“He looked closely at my work and challenged me to grow,” she says. “Having a professor who knew me both in and out of class made all the difference.”

At Rollins, mentorship-driven relationships are far from new. They’re a legacy nearly a century in the making. In 1931, President Hamilton Holt convened a national conference led by philosopher and educator John Dewey that helped shape the College’s distinctive approach to learning, rooted in a culture where every student is welcomed, known, and supported.

“The first business of the College [is] to ascertain with respect to each individual student … the interplay of interest and aptitude,” wrote Dewey in the 1931 report. “These considerations inexorably condition the whole relationship between student and teacher … without which the relationship is sterile.”

That philosophy still defines the learning experience at Rollins, one where professors know students well enough to challenge them, expand their thinking, and open new doors of opportunity. It’s a model built on small classes, close mentorship, open dialogue, and real-world application. And it’s one that continues to prepare graduates with the strengths and skills that employers demand.

More Than a Name

Growing up, Mannino heard for years that math wasn’t her strength. Eventually, she believed it.

When she mentioned her dislike for the subject in a logic course, emeritus philosophy professor Tom Cook stopped her. Why? he asked. When she said she wasn’t good at it, he pushed back. Based on her work in class, he told her that wasn’t true. Logic and math are closely linked—and she was excelling.

The moment stuck.

“He planted the seed that the skills I was building in philosophy were translatable,” says Mannino, who double majored in philosophy and public policy and political economy. Her senior year, she enrolled in the math and computer science courses she once avoided. Today, she uses both for her doctoral program in climate science.

It’s the kind of shift that happens only when a professor knows a student well enough to challenge what they think they know about themselves. In small classes, supported by an 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio, these moments are commonplace. The intimate environment allows faculty to recognize how students think, advocate for their growth, and connect their interests to unexpected possibilities—from research to internship and career pathways.

For international business major Paola Quiroz ’20, the connections she made at Rollins proved transformative. After teaching her in two classes, her advisor, business professor Allen Kupetz, recommended Quiroz for an internship at the e-commerce consulting agency Knoza, where he serves as chief operations officer. The experience changed her trajectory.

“Because of that role, I was able to work on technical projects and discovered I wanted to work in tech,” she says.

That realization led to another conversation, this time with business professor Marc Fetscherin, who encouraged Quiroz to pursue a master’s in information systems and digital innovation at the London School of Economics. She did.

“The role at Knoza had a domino effect that kick-started my career,” says Quiroz, now a senior finance manager at Microsoft working with the company’s AI Azure team. “It was all possible because of Rollins’ small classes, where I had access to my professors and was able to cultivate meaningful relationships with them, where I felt comfortable enough to go to them for everything from questions on what we were learning to advice on my career.

A Seat at the Table

Quiroz learned quickly that at Rollins, asking questions is de rigueur. She leaned in early. In an international marketing class, she was analyzing where to open a coffee franchise when the data led her somewhere unexpected: the United Kingdom. Everything she thought she knew pointed elsewhere—to the cafe culture of the Latin American countries she grew up visiting, not a nation known for tea.

So Quiroz spoke up. Can someone take a look at my analysis? This can’t be right.

“The cool thing about studying at Rollins is how many international students are in the room who can share their perspectives,” she says.

The data held. The U.K. is a major coffee market, a reality Quiroz would later experience firsthand when she moved to London. More important than the answer, however, was how she got there: by questioning assumptions, inviting challenge, and learning in conversation with others.

At Rollins, classrooms are built around dialogue, where ideas are tested, refined, and sometimes overturned. Students learn to engage across differences, listen closely, and support their thinking with evidence.

“At Microsoft, I consistently have to communicate with people from all over the world, and because of Rollins, it’s not new to me,” says Quiroz. “I wouldn’t be at this stage in my career if I hadn’t learned how to ask for, receive, and apply feedback.”

According to a new report from the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) that surveyed 1,030 hiring managers and executives nationwide, these interpersonal and adaptive skills are precisely the ones employers identify as the most essential today: clear and persuasive communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. They’re the skills Rollins has been teaching for decades and ones that travel across industries, often well beyond graduates’ original plans.

Take Jay Kirkley ’24. When he graduated, he intended to work in public health policy and went on to earn a master’s in health, medicine, and society at the University of Cambridge. But he decided he should first better understand the commercial world. Today, he’s doing just that as an analyst at CIL Strategy Consultants.

“Though my work as an analyst is entirely separate from anything I’ve ever studied, the core critical-thinking, communication, and collaboration skills I learned at Rollins prepared me to be adaptable, to recall and synthesize information, and find multidisciplinary solutions,” he says.

Knowledge, Applied

At Rollins, critical skills are learned in the classroom—and tested and refined in the world beyond it. Kirkley was one of many students who took full advantage of every opportunity for both. Alongside conducting undergraduate research, studying abroad, and working as a campaign manager, he pursued competitive fellowships, landing placements at Harvard and Carnegie Mellon. He was also twice named a Gateway Fellow, a selective Rollins program that provides funding for summer internships, where he worked with Rep. Anna Eskamani and at Equality Florida, applying what he was learning in real time.

“When you’re in class, you’re engaging with ideas that can feel theoretical,” says Kirkley, who double majored in biochemistry/molecular biology and public policy and political economy. “But through my fellowships, I learned professionalism, how to communicate effectively, and how to navigate complex scenarios. They helped me learn about the messiness of the real world and how to translate academic concepts into strategic problem-solving.”

Rollins offers applied learning opportunities to all students, often weaving them directly into the curriculum. Many courses incorporate community engagement experiences, research opportunities, and field studies to give students the chance to apply what they’re learning in context. In The Environmental Crisis in Its Cultural Context, Mannino worked alongside migrant farmers in Apopka through the Farmworker Association of Florida. There, the lessons planted in the classroom blossomed into life.

“A lot of times it becomes difficult when you’re reading very abstract academic literature to visualize the people behind it, but meeting them firsthand and seeing the issues up close illuminated and humanized the farmers’ experience,” she says.

Applied learning deepens understanding and gives graduates a powerful differentiator. The AAC&U report found that 95 percent of employers say it’s important for graduates to demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge in real-world settings, and 75 percent prefer candidates who have participated in community-based projects and worked with people from diverse backgrounds.

At Rollins, students graduate having already done both and with the instinct to keep seeking more.

An Ethos of Curiosity

At Rollins, a lifelong love of learning is encouraged and modeled by professors who are continually learning themselves.

Across campus, faculty are rethinking what it means to teach in a world defined by constant change. At the Endeavor Center for Faculty Development, workshops, institutes, and collaborative sessions on artificial intelligence, inclusive teaching, and productive dialogue bring professors together to share strategies, test ideas, and treat their courses not as finished products but as evolving experiences.

“Faculty are committed to teaching as a practice of learning, particularly when it comes to AI,” says Lucy Littler, interim director of the Endeavor Center and senior lecturer of English.

To evolve the classroom experience for today’s students, the Endeavor Center helps faculty integrate AI into their courses, build custom tools, and trial new approaches to teaching. It also convenes professors to share strategies for supporting neurodivergent learners and facilitating conversations around divisive topics.

“Supporting faculty is supporting students,” says Littler. “The goal is truly accessible, transformative learning experiences that are the heart of personalized learning.”

These efforts reflect a core belief: Education is expansive. Yes, it’s about mastering knowledge, but it’s also about developing the habits of mind to keep learning. That’s why Rollins professors emphasize questioning, adapting, and growth—qualities employers now value just as highly. According to AAC&U, more than 90 percent of employers rank initiative, resilience, self-awareness, and a desire to learn alongside traditional skills like teamwork and communication.

At Rollins, students develop those habits in classrooms where faculty model them every day.

“Being a lifelong learner is about continually building your skills and adding to your toolkit,” says Quiroz. “Rollins trained my brain to do just that.”

For Mannino, the payoff is clear. In addition to math classes, she took Intro to Computer Science her senior year to explore AI and machine learning.

“It ended up being a really important class,” she says. “Coding and evaluating output provided by large language models are things researchers at Brown do regularly, so it really prepared me for the reality of the field.”

And in the end, that may be the most enduring outcome of a Rollins education: not just what students achieve while they’re here but who they become once they leave—engaged, curious, and eager to keep learning wherever life and career may lead.