Imagine taking 27 credits in one semester. Senior finance and economic major Nadya Smirnova did just this and still managed to keep a 4.0 GPA.
Smirnova, who is originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, is an international student who currently attends Plattsburgh State. Taking three credits this semester, Smirnova is close to graduation.
Smirnova stands out as an excellent student to her professors. Associate Professor for the Department of Economics and Finance Kameliia Petrova said Smirnova is bright, hardworking and tenacious.
“She knows what she wants, and she goes after it, she’s a go-getter,” Petrova said. “She’s really bright, and she knows what she wants, so she’ll be very successful one day.”
One of Smirnova’s favorite classes she’s taken at PSUC is Portfolio Management. She took the class with Dr. Greg Gregoriou, a PSUC professor who passed away from cancer last semester. Smirnova said the class was super rewarding in the sense that she used a lot of the information she got during the class when interviewing for different jobs.
Department Chair of the Accounting School of Business and Economics Mohamed Gaber said Smirnova is professional, has superior analytical skills, can handle multiple projects/tasks at the same time and is attentive to details and meeting deadlines.
On top of keeping up with her academics, Smirnova also works for the Global Education Office on campus. She is currently working with a visually impaired student who is visiting PSUC for one semester. This job includes coordinating her schedule, making sure she gets around campus and enjoying her time on campus.
“She’s an amazing person, and we get along so well, and it’s very rewarding to see how she’s enjoying all of the things that everyone else around her enjoys,” Smirnova said. “I think it’s extremely rewarding knowing that your help gives someone else like so much.”
When Smirnova is not on campus, she is either hiking, watching TV on her couch or playing Magic: The Gathering with her husband.
Last semester, Smirnova got married on campus to her husband Owen Jeffery. Smirnova and Jeffrey met in Arizona where they attended the same community college. They were friends for a year before Jeffery asked Smirnova on a date. The pair moved in to their own apartment together after four months of dating. After being together for a while, Jeffery proposed, and Smirnova said yes.
“We just got married a few months ago so we’re trying to choose which state we would like to move to, probably Colorado, because it’s gorgeous,” Smirnova said. “He [Jeffery] used to live on the other coast so everything there is more familiar.”
In November, Smirnova and Jeffery went to City Hall, and Mayor and PSUC Professor Colin Read performed the wedding ceremony for the couple. They flew to Miami for a romantic honeymoon. They had a ceremony on the beach, took pictures and said their vows.
“It was specifically for the two of us,” Smirnova said. “It was beautiful for the pictures, and we did our vows, and he made me cry because he combined five songs that were associated with us, like our songs, into one speech, and it all rhymed.”
Smirnova is graduating at the end of this semester and Jeffery will graduate in December 2019.
“We started off our relationship pretty quickly,” Jeffery said. “A lot of people say we accelerated the process, but at the same time we were able to withhold all the responsibilities, and we just felt like everything was fading into place really well. I think it was just the fact that she was so caring for me and just in general. We just gave each other so much attention.”
