Ever since she was a young girl, senior Alicia Bertola has been planning her wedding.

“I love the whole romantic idea of it; it is a lot of fun for me,” said Bertola, who is currently helping a friend plan her wedding.

The adolescent English/special education major decided to use her fourth and final Field Period to explore the professional world of wedding/event planning. She looked online for Buffalo wedding planners and found Jennie McManus, owner of Details.

 There weren’t any weddings for Bertola to help plan in January, but she did have the opportunity to assist McManus in organizing a drug court conference  “bringing more than 800 professionals to Buffalo,” as well as a birthday party for a client’s wife and a bridal show held at a local mall.

“I took on the role of Jennie’s assistant, doing all the paperwork, calling clients, and representing her at the bridal show,” said Bertola. “I was definitely not used to this work as I have been training to teach for the past three-and-a-half years, but I worked very hard to adapt.”

Bertola aspires to teach either special education or English to middle school students. Her former Field Periods were at Canisius High School, a private all-male institution; Heritage Heights Elementary School, where she worked with a resource room teacher; and the Cantalician Center for Learning, a charter school for students with moderate to severe disabilities.

“I attended a Catholic school my whole life, and always thought that I would want to teach at one,” said Bertola.

However, she’d like to continue with wedding/event planning during her summers off from teaching.

“Jennie told me that I could work for her in the summers, which would be amazing,” said Bertola. “I got along really well with her. She has become a mentor to me, never losing faith in me and always doing her best to encourage me.

“How many people get to do two things they love?”

-- Tanya Cornell-Kestler