UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As Beatrice Gauthier ponders the question and thinks about the answer, a broad smile starts to emerge.
She’s tallying the number of people who’ll be there to support her during commencement exercises at Penn State on Aug. 10, when she’ll serve as student marshal for the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.
“It’s a lot,” she says with a proud but not prideful smile. She’s clearly appreciative of the support, and the moments she’ll share with others in the Class of 2024.
Gauthier has two parents, three sisters, two nieces, grandparents, family and friends, and they’re all proud because Gauthier’s academic career and accomplishments have also been, well, a lot.
She’ll graduate with three bachelor’s degrees — in telecommunications, marketing, and French and Francophone Studies. She’s studied abroad in France, spent a semester with the Penn State Hollywood Program in Los Angeles and completed five different internships.
Gauthier arrived at Penn State after transferring from Columbia College in Chicago. After growing up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she initially thought she needed to get away from home to find herself and find success.
Instead, she said, transferring closer to home opened a world of opportunities, literally.
“Because everybody from my high school seems to go to Penn State, it was not on my list. But my high school mentor brought me for a personal tour, and I realized I actually liked the place,” Gauthier said. “Then, when I got on campus and started to get involved — Lion Scouts, THON and everything else — I felt connected and realized maybe I could do this.”
There was no “maybe” about it. Gauthier embraced all Penn State had to offer. Along with the internships, she earned hands-on experience with CommAgency, Happy Valley Comm, PSN-TV and WPSU.
All her experiences opened a world of opportunities after commencement, Gauthier said.
How many options? A lot.
“It’s exciting to think about what’s next,” she said. “I’d like to go to Europe, use my skills, grow and live there and then return home and work in Hollywood. But we’ll see. Penn State has been so good to me. There are just so many options because of what I was able to do here.”