Morgan Shanley '23
Morgan Shanley feels like she was just a freshman yesterday.
While the graduating Shanley might feel that way, the reality for the accounting major is that she is about to return to her home state to embark on a journey to become a lawyer.
When Shanley walks across the stage at Florida Southern College’s graduation on May 6, she will soon after be on her way back to New Hampshire to enroll in the Franklin Pierce School of Law at the University of New Hampshire.
The journey will be a full-circle one for Shanley, who came to Florida Southern four years ago from the small village of Epping, New Hampshire.
“There’s about 2,000 people there,” Shanley said.
To compare, there were more students enrolled at Florida Southern to start the spring semester. Shanley’s graduating high school class was around 60. She will be part of a nearly 500-member graduating class on May 6.
So how does a small-town New Hampshire high school student find her way to Florida Southern?
“There were two things,” said Shanley, who also will be celebrating her 22nd birthday on April 30 along with graduation. “I found Florida Southern at a college fair, and it sparked my interest. Also, my grandparents were going to be moving here, which was a total coincidence. Once I figured that out, I came down and toured the school and saw how beautiful the campus was. It was good timing. Everything came together. I’m really fortunate I got to come here. I love the school and I’m sad to be leaving.”
While Shanley was on campus she played intramural volleyball and was the Treasurer of the College Republicans.
Shanley completed two internships, making the most of the experiential education experience provided by Florida Southern.
First Shanley worked for CLA (Clifton, Lawson, and Allen), a national accounting firm with an office in Lakeland. At CLA, Shanley got to work on learning tax law, which she plans on specializing in after she passes the bar exam and becomes a lawyer.
Shanley also got to work with local attorney Scott Langston, who handles elder law and estate planning. She was able to sit in meetings with clients and typed up legal documents that Langston needed for his cases.
“It was amazing,” Shanley said. “It’s not necessarily what I want to do, but being able to go from CLA to that … it gave me a better idea of how I can merge the two.”
While Shanley feels like her four years at Florida Southern flew by, the knowledge she gained from working closely with her professors will serve her a lifetime.
“Florida Southern provided a strong foundational support for my upcoming career,” she said. “In the small class sizes I got to know my professors. They were able to give me more guidance tailored to what I’m going to be doing. It helped me learn how to expand my skills and it gave me confidence that the knowledge I gained here will help me. It’s been an amazing experience, and if I could do it all again I would.”
