On Saturday, May 11, Shippensburg University presented their annual Young Alumni Awards during the spring undergraduate commencement ceremony. These awards are presented to graduates who are 40 years old or younger in recognition of their outstanding achievement in their field for the benefit of the community. This year’s recipients are Eric M. Fischgrund ’06, Ryan Shontz ’05, and Emily (McLaughlin) Goodine ’07 – ‘12M.
Fischgrund earned his bachelor’s degree in communication journalism. In 2013, he launched FischTank, a public media relations company located in New York City that provides marketing, media relations and digital strategies for companies of all sizes. His thoughts on marketing and communications have been featured in prominent media outlets including CNBC, Fox Business, U.S. News World & Report and Mashable. He is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur and multiple trade publications.
He also is the director of communications for the del Sol Foundation for Energy Security, a nonprofit raising money to deploy solar + storage technology to Puerto Rico that would provide power when the grid goes down. He is a volunteer dog walker for the Liberty Humane Shelter and hosts university students for job shadow opportunities.
Ryan Shontz earned his BSBA in finance and passed all three CFA exams on his first attempt to become a Chartered Financial Analyst and earned a Certificate of Investment Performance Measurement from the CFA Institute. He is the head of performance analytics for the Americas at Aberdeen Standard Investments, one of the world’s largest investment companies. He is responsible for tailoring the global department strategy to meet the evolving needs of investment professionals and clients in the Americas. He is currently working to deploy new data science oriented techniques in a forward-looking model for product competitiveness.
Prior to his position at Aberdeen, Shontz was vice president and regional manager for the Global Performance Team at BlackRock, Inc. In this position, he navigated through two immense mergers and was influential in completing several large-scale projects for the company to the benefit of the firm and investors in the marketplace.
Emily Goodine graduated summa cum laude, earning her degree in elementary education with a minor in reading. She later earned her Master’s of Education in educational administration. She has worked for the Waynesboro School District for twelve years, starting as a fourth and fifth grade teacher. In 2013, she was appointed assistant principal at Fairview Elementary where she led district English Language Arts (EAL) teams to develop curriculum maps based on the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s ELA models. Beginning in the 2017-2018 school years, she was appointed principal of Mowery Elementary.
She serves on the board of directors for Noah’s Ark Daycare and is affiliated with the Pennsylvania Principals Association and NAESP. She has been instrumental in a number of educational programming implementations at Waynesboro Area School District and was an iPad in Education assistant instructor for Eduspire. Goodine is pursuing her doctorate in educational leadership with Shippensburg and Millersville universities and is expected to complete her EdD next year.
