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PHOTO: Morgan Petry, at right, during an Alternative Break trip to Cuba.

When it came to selecting a place to continue her education, Long Island, N.Y., resident Morgan Petry '19 dreamed it would be a place where she could entertain more than one passion: specifically, earning a nursing degree and playing softball while doing it.

Ironically, Petry discovered �鶹��Ƶ while attending a softball clinic at Kutztown University. After looking into Alvernia, she found it to be her ideal home away from home.

“They made it possible for me to do both things I loved," she recalled.

Today, Petry is a nurse with the U.S. Navy, stationed in Portsmouth, Va., an endeavor she signed up for as an Alvernia student.

“I thought about the military while I was in high school, but knew I wanted to be a nurse," she said. "Then once on a school break, I learned about the Nurse Candidate Program with the Navy and met with a recruiter.”

At first, Petry was waitlisted for the experience, but another attendee dropped out and she grabbed the opening while she could, signing a 5-year contract that has since expired, but she’s stayed on and aims to climb the ranks.

She’s currently working on her master of science degree in nursing administration with Liberty University with an estimated graduation date of December 2025.

Petry looks back on her time at Alvernia fondly, recalling her attraction to the intimate campus, with one of her favorite spots being the QUAD.

“It was not too large, but big enough that I felt like I could have my own place,” Petry recalled. “It was a place to call home and I loved the small class sizes and the feeling that my professors cared about me as a person.”

Aside from playing with the softball team through her sophomore year, Petry was also an Orientation Weekend Leader (OWL), an experience she says was a lot of fun.

“When I started at Alvernia, the OWLs were some of the first people I met,” she said. “It was important for me to get involved in a way that was impactful for me and to be a face for the new students during a time that can be vulnerable.”

Petry also participated in Alternative Breaks, the first being during her sophomore year with the Reading Mission Trip. She recalls that though the group stayed in Reading, the experience was an eye-opening one, having her serve meals at a soup kitchen as well as performing other service tasks locally.

“It really created an awareness of the community where I was living,” she said.

Later trips saw her travel to the Dominican Republic and Cuba. All the experiences were great precursors to prepare her for her time with the Navy.

“Alvernia helped me to develop life skills, Petry asserts. “It opened doors for me to meet different people with different backgrounds. Now I’m doing that in the military, too.”