Note: This is a brief look at four high-achieving seniors who were part of our 2025 Hatter Headliners series, which highlighted new graduates.

Sugeeth Sathish: Career Investment Pays Off Big (Apple)

When it comes to the prospects of career success for Sugeeth Sathish, there is no need for a sales pitch. His stock is way up.

As a student majoring in Accounting, Economics and Finance with a minor in Applied Statistics, Sathish still was able to thrive in numerous leadership roles throughout the campus. He effectively leveraged one experiential opportunity after another while cultivating connections with faculty. That includes serving as Chief Investment Officer for the Roland George Investments Program, a student-led fund that manages more than $7 million within the School of Business Administration. In doing so, he won multiple stock-pitch student competitions on the state and national levels. Also, as part of Stetson’s Environmental Fellows program, he worked on the Revolving Green Fund, a source of capital to invest in long-term sustainability projects to generate cost savings. Among the projects was the expansion of Stetson’s chiller loop system to help reduce electrical consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Now, a scant four years after arriving at Stetson from Madison, Wisconsin, as a J. Ollie Edmunds Scholar (with a four-year merit scholarship), Sathish is poised to take a bite out of the Big Apple — heading to New York City for a job with investment giant Goldman Sachs.

“Stetson has prepared me for my future by opening the door to various programs that really benefited me in terms of gaining the skills necessary to apply for a future career,” he said, referring to the university initiative called Hatter Ready.

By the way, Sathish also came to Stetson well-prepared, having completed almost every course required for an economics major while he was dual-enrolled in high school. And, in typical style, his Goldman Sachs job came by virtue of a summer internship (June 2024-August 2024) as an investment banking analyst at the company.

Upon arrival at Stetson, Sathish hoped to combine his interests in finance and sustainability to help the university on its path to zero emissions. Today, he’s leaving Stetson with the same thinking — to build a greener environment — as he begins work this summer in Goldman Sachs’ Natural Resources coverage group, where he’ll be an investment banking analyst.

Since high school, Sathish had dreamed about becoming an investment banker. Departing Stetson, he credits the university’s faculty, staff and alumni for allowing him to explore and develop his passions. Ultimately, he believes Stetson helped to mold both his identity as a person and his vision as a professional.

“Stetson wants to support their talented students as much as possible, obviously for everyone, but they make an extra effort, which was something I appreciated,” he said. “And then also, it kind of makes you stand out; you’re getting more experiences than someone who’s at an Ivy League school … . Looking back, Stetson provided me with a lot more exposure than anyone could have dreamed of, setting me up for success as I began the recruiting process with Goldman Sachs.

“Stetson provides so many experiential learning opportunities. … The experiential learning and one-on-one relationships with my professors helped prepare me all along the way.”

– Michael Candelaria

Kylie Overstreet: ‘Feel Very Blessed’

No one would need a microscope to discover that Class of 2025 Biology major Kylie Overstreet achieved much at Stetson.

Overstreet, who also minored in Studio Art, maintained a 4.0 GPA, making the Dean’s List every semester. She served as secretary of Beta Beta Beta (TriBeta), the biological honor society; and presented her senior research in March at an Association of Southeastern Biologists conference.

She completed a clinical research internship with Mayo Clinic and presented more research this spring at the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference 2025, one of the nation’s largest multidisciplinary research conferences. Also, there was an internship at the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s office, and she is continuing clinical research with Mayo this summer. She fully participated in Stetson’s experiential Hatter Ready initiative.

Plus, for good measure, Overstreet was a four-year member of the Stetson women’s soccer team. In her first year, she was named to the ASUN Academic Honor Roll. As a senior, she was a starter in all 19 games she played.

Arriving from Oakleaf High School in Orange Park, a stone’s throw from the Stetson campus, Overstreet was an academic and athletic ace who now has a future in medicine even brighter than her standout past.

Yet, while Overstreet will smile with pride about her college achievements, she’s quicker to acknowledge others — her peers and professors.

“I would definitely say that as I look back at my time at Chaudoin [residence hall], the biggest things that jump out to me are, No. 1, the people that I met, as well as the professors and the bonds I was able to form with them,” she said in May, days before graduating.

Good first-year fortune, she added, brought her a roommate and soccer teammate who is likely to become a lifelong friend. And with help around campus, Overstreet was able to navigate the challenging terrain of studies and sports.

“I really felt like I was able to enjoy my time at Stetson as a college athlete. … I feel very blessed to have been able to continue my studies and develop relationships with my professors to where they were understanding when I was away [traveling with the team to games],” she explained.

Career Calling

Then, as a junior, Overstreet found her career calling under a microscope during research directed by Associate Professor Roslyn Crowder, PhD.

The fall-semester course was “Enhanced Research Experience in Cancer Biology,” where Overstreet encountered something unexpected in her experiment results: Cancer cells died when introduced to the compound she created. The research connected how plant growth conditions can alter phytochemicals produced, which in turn change the anticancer properties of the plant.

“With Dr. Crowder’s course, we discovered that the way plants are actually grown can affect their impact on cells, which is some­thing I didn’t expect to have such a profound effect. It was very obvious. ‘OK, if a plant is growing in these conditions, it won’t kill cells as well as if it was grown in other conditions.’ … That can impact the medical field.”

Overstreet had originally chosen Stetson because of its small class sizes and opportunities for personal growth. In the end, that setting delivered.

Now, Overstreet is intent on becoming part of the medical field — specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Medical school is next, although an official destination hasn’t yet been decided. Meanwhile, she continues as a clinical research intern at the Mayo Clinic Office of Non-Clinical Education Programs in Jacksonville.

Her parting words: “I really do want to become a doctor of oncology, and I’m kind of set in that path. And I think that if I had gone anywhere else, I might not have really discovered my drive as a person.”

– Michael Candelaria

Nicholas Dieux: ‘I was a Sponge’

From portraying Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro to Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus and Sir Lancelot du Lac in Camelot, Nicholas Dieux wore many hats during his time at Stetson.

“My four years here were just perfect,” Dieux said. “Coming to Stetson and being able to take classes that were solely built around the thing I love most was the best thing ever. Since my first day at Stetson, I was a sponge.”

Being a sponge served Dieux well. In between all the fundamentals — such as music theory, sight singing, aural training, piano, conducting and diction classes for singers — he had to learn during his first two years, along with his music classes later, he absorbed knowledge that proved useful when searching for experiential learning opportunities.

“Summer of my freshman year, I got to go to Germany, England and Wales with the Chamber Orchestra and Choir through the WORLD program,” he said. “We got to sing some music where (George Frideric) Handel and (Johann Sebastian) Bach were born and where they played music. I also got to sing a recital in Wales, which was really fun. It was my first time in Europe, so it was a treat.”

In the summer of 2024, Dieux made his international debut singing Papageno in Lyric Opera Studio Weimar‘s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without Stetson’s professional development fund, which gave me the financial support needed to study the role in Germany,” he said. “And, because of my training at Stetson, I was able to form a network of directors and coaches in Germany, allowing me to return to Weimar this summer and reprise the role of Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.”

Opera Orlando and Stetson

In the Fall 2024 semester, Dieux was one of four students from the Stetson School of Music to be selected for the Opera Orlando Apprentice Artists program — a partnership between the university and Opera Orlando that allows singers to earn college credit while providing a platform “for undergraduate voice students to gain performance experience with a professional company while working alongside and learning from Opera Orlando staff and guest artists.”

“I was part of the second year of this program alongside three other colleagues,” he noted. “We got to perform in main stage productions with Opera Orlando, which was wonderful.”

Can there be a better example of Hatter Ready than Stetson students singing alongside opera singers? Doubtful. And Dieux is living proof of how well Hatters tackle real-life experiences and excel at it.

“It was amazing to be a part of a professional company and see what the industry is like,” Dieux commented. “Stetson prepared us well for that. It was so incredible to see professionals in the zone during rehearsal, so focused and really trying to grasp all that was being thrown at them. I was standing in the back and was thinking, ‘How cool is this? I’m a senior in college and I’m here.’

“We appeared in Verdi’s Macbeth, and got to be a part of Verdi’s Requiem,” he added. “That’s not something you see at a lot of other schools. Not even graduate schools’ programs give you the opportunity to put in your resume that you sang with a professional opera company during your studies. So, it was really wonderful.”

Recognitions

During his junior year, Dieux — as any other junior student in the School of Music — was tasked with putting together a 30-minute junior recital. He chose to curate a recital that told the story of a wanderer who sought for an unknown land to find emotional salvation.

“It was a big reflection of myself,” Dieux explained. “The story was all created by myself, and it was a direct representation of where I was in that part of my life. … I wanted to create something captivating for the audience, but I felt like it was me the entire time.”  

For that recital, Dieux was awarded the Maris Award for Undergraduate Research. He was the winner of the Southeast Region National Teachers of Singing (SERNATS) in 2022 and placed second in the male category of the Florida Federation of Music Clubs (FFMC) Collegiate Vocal Competition in 2023.

Dieux — who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance — was the selected keynote speaker for the School of Music at the 2025 Spring Commencement. His speech encouraged all his fellow classmates to always be evergreen.

“I was so, so grateful,” he said. “I realized that I needed to make this count and share a story that was real and uplifting.”

Moving Forward

Dieux will become a Louisiana State University Tiger come fall, as he will be pursuing his master’s degree in Opera Performance. However, if one thing rings true for Dieux, it’s that he always will be a Stetson Hatter. During his senior recital during the Spring 2025 semester, he concluded his repertoire with the song “If Ever I Would Leave You” from the opera Camelot.

“The song represents my relationship with my grandmother, but it also represents my time at Stetson and how wonderful this place has been to me,” he said. “And, it’s just a song of devotion that no matter what seasons pass, I’ll never leave this place.”

– Andrea Mujica

Elizabeth Langston: ‘It was Clear Where I was Supposed to Be’

Elizabeth Langston inherited her love for music, education and Stetson from her family.

“My introduction to Stetson was very unique,” said Langston, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a minor in Psychology.

Both her parents, Joshua and Lisa Langston ‘94, graduated Stetson with a bachelor’s degree in Music Education. Funny enough, Langston’s brother, Thomas Langston ’23, and sister-in-law, Melody Quiroga ‘23, also obtained their music education diploma from Stetson while her grandmother Connie Langston ’94, also a Stetson alumna, graduated with a degree in Education.

“But that’s not really what sold me,” she said. “I first realized I wanted to come here through Stetson’s Brass Camp. The trumpet professor at the time, Tom Macklin, was a fantastic educator with whom I really wanted to work with. The family part was an added bonus.”

Langston fell in love with the trumpet the summer before entering sixth grade, when her late grandfather, Jim Jones — also was a trumpet player — offered to give her lessons. She didn’t know it then, but that moment marked the beginning of her professional journey.

“It was just something I really loved and enjoyed,” she said.  “But, when I got to high school, I got a lot of opportunities to be a leader through treble playing like section leader and field commander. I also got to teach other trumpet players in my band, and I really enjoyed doing that, and I think that’s where it started. It was when I got to college that I realized I really enjoy elementary music education.”

Hatter Ready

During her years at Stetson, Langston was exposed to several experiential learning opportunities. Officially, the university initiative is called Hatter Ready. During her sophomore year, she traveled to Italy to perform with Stetson’s orchestra. She participated in the National Trumpet Competition twice as a member of Stetson’s Trumpet Studio. During her senior year, she completed her internship at Heathrow Elementary under the school’s music teacher Michelle Smith.  

Langston received a number of awards during her time at Stetson. They include Outstanding First Year in 2022, Outstanding Second Year in 2023, Outstanding Senior Music Educator – Instrumental Award in 2024 and the Presser Foundation Undergraduate Scholar Award in 2025 — which is the School of Music’s highest honor.

“It was not even in my radar that me receiving the Presser Award could really be a possibility,” she said. “Being a part of the music school, I know so many people that are fantastic at their instrument, fantastic teachers and performers, and academically successful. So, I really was not expecting to be chosen as the recipient of it.”

Prior to graduating Stetson, Langston was chosen to perform at the 2025 Academic Awards and Recognition ceremony, where she was presented with the Presser Foundation Undergraduate Scholar Award back in May.

Don’t Be An Island

Through her years as a music student, Langston learned one phrase that often echoes through the hallways of Stetson’s School of Music — don’t be an island.

“People say that all the time and it’s super, super true,” she said. “In fact, I couldn’t have done anything had it not been for the people around me. They helped me study, they helped me put down my laptop and put down my trumpet — which is something that I was always doing, homework and practicing. So, the people in the School of Music helped me see that I can enjoy life without those things, but also helped me be more academically successful.”

If one thing rings true for Langston about Stetson and the relationship-rich environment that can be felt all around campus is  to “really cherish your relationships while you’re here, because the days are long but the years are super short,” she said.

Langston will be starting a full-time position as the new music teacher at Lawton Elementary School in Seminole County in August. She’ll be teaching students from kindergarten to fifth grade.

“I grew up with my parents being my teachers,” she said. “And I think growing up, that’s what really inspired me to become a music teacher.”

– Andrea Mujica

Bruno Soto ’25: Global Learning — ‘I guarantee it’

Bruno Soto’s list of activities while a student at Stetson is far too lengthy for this space. The Reader’s Digest version: double-majoring in Economics and Political Science; completing a U.S. Department of State internship; participating in Stetson’s Model United Nations and the Alexander Hamilton Society; plus attending 2023’s inaugural Stetson Days at the Capitol in Tallahassee. 

Yet, that’s almost like saying Babe Ruth was a baseball player who hit home runs. There is so much more.

“Yes, I was very, very involved,” Soto said simply in May, just days before graduating as the recipient of Stetson’s William Amory Underhill Award, which recognizes the student who has “most demonstrated the discipline, integrity and desire to pursue a successful career in the public service.”

Is Soto worthy of that award? You bet.

The first-generation college student whose family is Ecuadorian devoted his senior research project to the 15 states that were created following the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union — because he sought to “understand more about foreign investments going to those countries and why some of the countries are more successful than others. … I wanted to get to the bottom of that.”

His Department of State internship in fall 2023 took him to Washington, D.C., where he was part of a team engaged in energy policy, clean energy and economics. He worked with foreign counterparts from the Indo-Pacific, Africa and Latin America. Also, he rubbed elbows with powerful attorneys and high-ranking government officials. “It was very phenomenal to see people who were high-ranking officials,” he described. “You see people who are in the news all the time being in the same room as you. … It was a really great privilege.”

And like at Stetson, Soto didn’t squander opportunities. Instead, he made connections.

The same occurred last summer on a weeklong study abroad trip to Geneva, Switzerland. He visited such global agencies as the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross. About study abroad opportunities, he commented, “You wouldn’t think that at a small university they would have programs for everywhere in the world.”

Soto now sees an immediate future with the Peace Corps before going to law school to study international law, international business and international human rights.

Soto has many options, just as he did four years ago, leaving his hometown Jacksonville to attend college. He “got to see a lot of different things that were available to me.” Ultimately, he chose Stetson.

“When I came to Stetson, I saw something that looked very familiar to me: small class sizes and camaraderie amongst the students,” he said. “I noticed everyone seemed to get along very well, which was very important to me. … And I just felt like the campus offered environments that I could thrive in.”

It turned out to be a smart decision for a bright young man who this summer can look back at Stetson with gratitude, a feeling he willingly shares to others.

His words: “You should choose Stetson because it’s the kind of place where you can ask, can knock on people’s doors, and you will find what you’re looking for. I guarantee it.”

-Michael Candelaria

Tristyn Rampersad ’25: A Graduate at 19 Looks to Law School

Tristyn Rampersad wasted no time making an impact on the Stetson campus. In fact, he made his presence felt even before officially arriving as a first-year student in fall 2022 at age 16.

Earlier that year, as Rampersad was exploring college options, he met with Sven Smith, PhD JD, then-Stetson associate professor of sociology. As they discussed the prospects of Rampersad choosing Stetson, Smith was asked about starting a moot court team. His response to Rampersad: “I will create a moot court team if you come here. We will start it together.”  

As a first-year student, Rampersad founded Stetson’s first undergraduate Moot Court team alongside Smith. Since then, the team has qualified for the American Moot Court Association’s national tournament series each year, advancing to the final national tournament twice. Rampersad wound up being president of Stetson’s Moot Court Board.

There’s more. While majoring in Philosophy (on a Prelaw track with a minor in Political Science), Rampersad dabbled in a bit of everything. He also competed in Mock Trial events, was a member of Stetson’s Model Senate and Ethics Bowl team, and served as vice president of Omicron Delta Kappa (Honor Society). Graduating in three years, he received the Ronald L. and Margaret Smith Hall Philosophy Award. Ultimately, in May, Rampersad represented the College of Arts and Sciences as a 2025 Commencement student speaker. (See video below.)

‘Best Way to Grow Myself’

Not too bad for a homeschooler from Mount Dora, about a 45-minute drive from Stetson, who chose to be a Hatter over being a Gator at the University of Florida.

“It was really a question of do I want to go for that apparent prestige with a public university, or do I want to go the private route? And I figured that I valued smaller class sizes and relationships with professors,” Rampersad explained. “Then there was also the fact that I was homeschooled throughout high school, middle school and elementary school, and I was trying to figure out what’s the best way to grow myself personally without trying to step into an area where I would be unfamiliar and potentially drown in the deep end.”

Further, the personal attention he received from Smith was a difference-maker. “The fact that a professor would take so much time to talk to me to help me; he went beyond the period of time he was supposed to speak,” commented Rampersad, whose paternal roots are from Trinidad and Tobago.

Rampersad was given a need-based William M. and Nina B. Hollis Scholarship, available to Stetson students who also demonstrate academic achievement and leadership. And he made the university’s belief in him pay off — despite, as he described, an initial “adjustment period” and a “little bit of homesickness for the first few weeks.”

“I think my mindset was that I wanted to make the absolute most of whatever length of time I spent here at Stetson,” he said. “I decided that I just wanted to take as much of my free time as possible and use that to further my personal growth, further my career. There certainly was this idea of ‘Is this going to be too much? Is this going to be too stressful?’ But it wasn’t really a fear; it was more of just a little bit of apprehension. But I recognized that as I got into it, as I saw the length of time that I was spending, that I was able to carve out time for both myself and for success in these academic activities.”

Ample Opportunities

Indeed, there was success, particularly as it related to Stetson’s Hatter Ready initiative, rolled out during the past academic year. Rampersad made the most of the ample opportunities.

“I think the Hatter Ready program is definitely a great step for the university. … I think what happens without those programs is students learn all of this theoretical textbook information, and then they go out into the real world and they’re confused about how they apply it,” said Rampersad. “The Hatter Ready program is really allowing students to take those skills and apply them while you’re still here in the university. So, once you get into the real world of looking for a job, trying to figure out what your place is in the world, you have the application figured out and you can take that to further yourself.”

Although not turning 20 until January 2026, Rampersad already has figured much out. By virtue of diligence on campus, as well as Advanced Placement classes through Florida Virtual School, he needed only three years to complete his studies at Stetson and begin his “next.”

This summer, he is preparing for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), with plans to apply to law schools in the fall. His long-term goal is to use the law as a “tool for change, guided by a commitment to justice, empathy and reasoned action.”

As Rampersad departed the campus, he expressed deep gratefulness to the community that “made Stetson feel like home,” and especially to the professors who “challenged” his thinking.

“The professors really went the extra mile to make sure that I was prepared for everything,” Rampersad concluded. “They were always available anytime I had questions, even outside of office hours. Some of them gave me their phone number to ask them questions when it came to certain things. They were just incredibly accessible all the time, which really helped me be motivated to succeed in the classes. When you have someone who cares about you, who’s actively pushing you to be better, you want to work better, to be the best that you can in that subject, in that class or in that field.”

-Michael Candelaria