A Scholarship Powers a Positive Trend for Stevie Albright

On a recent campus visit, David B. O’Maley told a gathering of business students, “What you get is what you work for.”

Stevie Albright says he was speaking her language.

“He was really inspiring,” the junior focused on marketing says. “‘Hard work pays off’ has always been my motto and to hear that confirmed by someone who has a big influence was encouraging. He acknowledged we were all there for the same reason.”

Albright’s hard work is paying off, thanks to the O’Maley Family Endowed Scholarship Fund. She will graduate with her bachelor’s in 2025 and then move into the accelerated master’s program for a graduate degree in 2026.

She grew up with a window into the analytical and consulting side of business. Her mother is an account manager and her father is a manager of building operations.

Golf has also been a big part of her life since high school, and she is now the captain of Embry-Riddle’s Women’s Golf team. She sees parallels between the skills she is building as an athlete and as a student.

“On the team, we have a diversity of perspectives – players from business, human factors and engineering. It’s valuable to work with those different mindsets. For example, our engineers want perfection and precision. They use different vocabulary than we do in business, which can be challenging, but at the end of the day, you get a bigger picture by listening to them.”

As a competitive golfer, she is always looking to improve her performance.

“Even though golf is an individual sport, we go over Excel spreadsheets with detailed data to collaboratively set goals for ourselves.”

She has learned to love Excel formulas and formats and coding.

“These classes really opened my eyes to aspects of decision-making in business that were new to me,” she says. “My professors made what could have been boring engaging.”

Her growing interest in data analytics led her to an internship. She just started working at Benedict Advertising and Marketing in Daytona Beach where she can learn more about how data drives strategy.

Her scholarship not only eased her financial strain, it boosted her confidence.

“It’s super-exciting to see how my whole path has been redirected by my scholarship,” she says. “I am unbelievably grateful that I have had more room to grow, and so many opportunities have opened up to me, such as taking summer classes. I was brave enough to get out of my comfort zone and see myself as competitive enough to go after an internship and get it. I raised my goals from graduating to going after an MBA.”

It looks like a positive trend for Stevie Albright.