The QUEST Program has many benefits: learning opportunities, strong alumni network, and, surprisingly, romance! In fact, there are multiple QUEST alumni couples, some who even started to date during the program. We asked some of these couples to share their experiences in diving in and taking a QUEST for life.
Category Archives: Alumni Corner
Alumna Shares the Exciting World of Product Management with QUEST
The semester has started and for the second time, QUEST is offering a very exciting elective course: Product Management (BMGT438N)! This class is filled with twenty QUEST students, a lovely TA, an amazing professor, and many guest speakers that are excited to help the class learn about Product Management.
This semester, the course has a new professor, Jessica Alves De Sa, a Product Manager at Shopify and QUEST alumna from Cohort 16! She has experience in consulting and product management and is excited to share her knowledge with the class.
Alumnus Joshua Cocker Returns to UMD as a Professor
Joshua Cocker, recently named a Keystone Professor at the University of Maryland, came from QUEST roots. QUESTPress writer Abby Wexler was able to chat with him about his journey from QUEST student to professor at the University of Maryland.
Alumnus Jeff Lue on Being the Change He Wants to See
Jeff Lue (Cohort 16) was preparing for a meeting with his boss a few months ago when suddenly it dawned upon him – he did this exact project in college. After pulling out his laptop and meticulously searching through old notes, he finds his QUEST presentation! During the meeting with his boss, the two laugh about how he ended up living one of his college dreams.
Alumni Corner: Blake Bonita (Cohort 21)
As a tour guide here at the University of Maryland, I always highlight the QUEST program. One of the first things people always ask is my favorite part about the QUEST program. My response never changes- the people that you meet in QUEST are not only driven, but they are also great people that will change the world. A QUEST alumnus that embodies this perfectly is Blake Bonita.
Bonita (third from left) with his 490H team at their QUEST Conference
Bonita was a member of Cohort 21 and graduated in 2016 with a degree in Accounting and Finance. Following graduation, he has traveled all around the world and worked at the White House, Deloitte Consulting, Marine Corps, and LinkedIn. Additionally, this fall, he will be pursuing an MBA at the Wharton School of Business. While he has been very successful in all his endeavors, the best part about him is his humility. It was clear from our interview that he has always stayed grounded and true to himself throughout all these experiences.
I was able to speak with Bonita about his experiences at Deloitte and the Marine Corps. Originally, he joined Deloitte because consulting offered diversity, working with a breadth of clients across industries. Each project Bonita worked on offered the ability to meet new people, travel the world, and tackle various issues. His experiences at Deloitte allowed him to develop a great skill set for identifying problems and developing solutions. Bonita mentioned that in this role, he used many of the skills learned in QUEST. Specifically, he said, “The ability to understand a problem, ask the right questions, think systematically, use data, propose solutions, etc. will always be useful, at work and in your everyday life. Long live QUEST.”
After leaving Deloitte, Bonita entered the Marines as an Infantry Officer and Rifle Platoon Commander out of a sense of service while also seeking a challenge. A surprising amount of what he learned in the classroom and in a professional setting applied while taking care of his Marines such as dealing with uncertainty. One lesson that he took away from the experience was summed up by the quote, “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” He told me to always plan for everything, but if or when nothing goes to plan, the planning you did will prepare you best for whatever you encounter.
Bonita during his time in the Marines
At the end of our interview, he advised current QUEST students, “Take every experience as just that: an experience. There are good experiences and bad experiences, but every experience teaches you something. Certainly, cherish the good and move on from the bad, but don’t forget to reflect, understand, and learn from every experience. Having a positive and resolute attitude goes a long way towards happiness and success.”
QUEST Alumni Give Back to the Program as Project Champions
One of QUEST’s most valued benefits is our strong network of alumni, who continuously gives back to the program long after they’ve graduated. One way in which alumni pass on their knowledge and skills to current students is by becoming project champions. Each project champion acts as the main point of contact between their company and a QUEST team throughout a capstone project, meeting weekly with the students and providing valuable support. I interviewed two QUEST alumni who have served as project champions to hear about their experiences and why they chose to give back.
Celebrating QUEST’s Evolvement Over the Past 30 Years
Having just admitted Cohorts 39 and 40, it’s fitting to reflect on how QUEST has evolved over the years. I was able to talk to four different alumni, ranging from Cohort 2 to Cohort 29 about their experiences in the QUEST program. It was evident that while specific programming and courses may have changed, the same impact remains.
Vikas Majahan from Cohort 2 was a student in QUEST during the period it was under the IBM grant and was called IBM-TQ. For those unaware, the QUEST program was formed in 1992, with a 1-million dollar grant from IBM as a part of their Total Quality Management (TQM) initiative. Majahan entered the program as an engineering major, and QUEST helped him realize that while his skillset was analytical, he could also use those skills in accounting/business. Following his graduation, he began working as the Assistant Director of IT for the Smith School of Business. After leaving this role, he gained experience in tech and cybersecurity-focused roles at companies such as Microstrategy, PwC, AARP, and a cybersecurity consulting company called Likeminds Consulting. Majahan began working for the American Red Cross in 2015 and is currently the Chief Information Security Officer.
Vikas Majahan (Cohort 2)
Celebrating 30 Quality Years of QUEST
Since its beginning in 1992, the QUEST Honors Program has taken in 38 cohorts of students, providing tangible professional skills, friendships, and memories to last a lifetime. QUEST students have worked with 117 unique project sponsors on 276 different projects, using problem-solving skills to develop real-world solutions to complex challenges. This year, QUEST is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and there will be multiple ways to get involved in the celebration!
QUEST Alumni Undergo Impressive Career Transitions
During your college and early professional years, it’s common to feel that the career decisions made now are indefinite and will affect you in the years to come. While it’s important to prepare yourself to secure post-graduation plans that align with your goals, QUEST alumni themselves show that where you begin your career journey is not the end all be all. I was able to speak with 3 successful alumnae who have undergone career changes recently in order to learn from their journeys.
Mary Smith (Cohort 29)
The first alumna I had the pleasure of speaking with was Mary Smith, a member of Cohort 29 who graduated in Spring 2020 with a Mechanical Engineering degree. While in college, Smith got experience working in industry by interning at Oceaneering for two summers and a winter term. During her first summer with Oceaneering, her role was within Quality Engineering, but she completed her second internship within Mechanical Engineering. When considering post-graduation plans, Smith said that she knew that she “already had an established role at Oceaneering that she could jump back into” and that it would be an awesome first job. Thus, she accepted a full-time position and started as a Mechanical Engineer in July 2020. Unexpectedly, about a year after starting at Oceaneering, Smith’s engineering teacher from her high school approached her about an open teaching position. Smith explained that it was a very tough decision to take the teaching position because she “knew it was a dream job but didn’t want to toss aside a career in industry so early.” One of the deciding factors that went into her decision was that she knew that the school, Archbishop Spalding High School, was a great place to teach and she wasn’t sure if this opportunity would arise again.
Cohort 28 Alumnus Derek Xiao Impresses Viewers on Big Brother
Big Brother is watching you… or at least this was true for QUEST alum Derek Xiao this past summer during his experience on the national television show on CBS, Big Brother. Big Brother is a televised competition and reality television show based off of the concept in George Orwell’s novel, 1984, and the concept of “Big Brother.” Your average person is chosen to live in a house for a summer and participate in a variety of competitions to win power and advantages throughout the game, going through possible elimination as the show goes on. The house guests are constantly watched by “Big Brother” and under the decisions of the voice. There is a grand prize of $500,000 for the winner of the season. The game challenges people not only physically, but social skills are essential to winning the game.
Derek Xiao (Cohort 28)