Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2016 | Page 26

People From All Walks of Life:

An Interview with Emily Martin ’08

BY PATRICIA ERIKSON

Were you interested in global issues while
you were a student at TA?
My interest was broad when I was at
Thornton. I was involved in several
organizations, including: Dance Company,
varsity sports and Student Council. These kept
me very active in the community. I certainly
have always been interested in global issues,
particularly environmental issues. It is a
subject I find truly fascinating as we slowly
begin to realize our impact on the planet as
human beings. After TA I attended UNH
where I took a few classes on sustainable
tourism and community development. We
focused a lot of our discussions on this
topic and the effects tourism has on small
communities around the world.
What has been both challenging and
rewarding about being a homestay family?
I can’t speak much to challenges aside from
the fact that my parents, Sandy and Mike,
have switched my childhood bedroom over
to a homestay room! As for rewards, there
have been several including, but not limited
to, learning more about different cultures,
experiencing new cuisine (had Dim Sum for
the first time with Lihua Yang ’17), sharing
our holiday dinner tables with people from
four different countries, and visiting Spain to
see exactly where Alejandro Pasquin ’15 and
Carlos Perez ’17 grew up. I got to meet their
families (see photos at right).
Describe experienceing a holiday dinner
table with four countries represented.
My mom and dad hosted Oscar Huynh ’17
and Steven He ’17 last year from Vietnam
and China, respectively. My sister Eliza
Harner ’06 hosted Carlos Perez ’17 from
Valencia, Spain and Lihua Yang ’17 from
China. At Thanksgiving, we all stayed at my
sister’s house with all of those students. We
all worked together to pull dinner together.
The boys were in charge of setting the table,

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bringing tables in, and extending the table.
It was this huge, culturally diverse, extended
family gathering around this big table. A lot
of them were experiencing Thanksgiving for
the first time. Some of them liked the food,
some of them didn’t. My mom and dad have
had homestay for three years. Since I go
home a lot, I’ve pretty much watched Oscar
grow up.
You visited Thornton students in Spain?
Yes, we traveled to Valencia to meet Carlos’
mom and Alejandro’s family in Madrid.
His mom is an artist so she put us up in her
studio apartment downtown and took us out
for traditional tapas, took us out to markets,
connected us with friends to show us the
sights in Madrid, and invited us to a big
birthday celebration at her restaurant. Then
we witnessed the celebrations in town after
a big soccer match. We traveled in Spain for
nine days.

It’s similar to a sales role. You’re selling
the company and trying to find the right
people who are a good fit. Sell externally
and internally.
I love it! The best part about my career
is establishing relationships with people
from all walks of life, learning about
different industries and career paths, and
helping people grow their career.

What have you been doing since you
graduated?
After earning a bachelor’s in tourism
planning and development in 2008 at UNH,
I started my career in medical/technical
recruiting, working in various agencies.
Now I work in house talent acquisition at
an IT solutions company called Continuum
Managed Services in the financial district of
Boston.
A lot of companies are splitting up their
HR organization into two components: the
onboarding of staff for benefits and handling
issues and also the recruitment aspect. I’ve
been in recruiting for the past five years.
At the same time I could be recruiting for
someone in finance and a software engineer.
I reach out to people through networking
events, through Linked In, through handling
inquiries, and through phone interviews. My
job is to see if they are the right fit for the
position and for that corporate culture.

Local families who are interested in hosting
residential students from other countries or
other states may contact Jade Eliot for more
information. Hosting opportunities