Thanks to Franklin, Suzzette Abbasciano ’07 has become a successful analyst and investigator, as well as someone who understands the world. But it wasn’t always that way. Born in New Mexico and raised in Arizona, for Suzzette college would be a way to see the world.
“Learning through living becomes part of your life.”
Academic travel provided a pivotal experience when Suzzette and her group traveled to the Basque region, which includes northern Spain and parts of France. “We happened to be there when the Madrid bombings happened in 2004,” she remembered. “It was interesting because there was speculation that the attack could have been by the Basque terrorist group, which was a focus of our travel. As Franklin students, our group figured the situation out together.” She continued, “There was something so moving about the fact that we were close to an event that not only affected the area, but could also affect the world.”
Today, Suzzette is in training for drug enforcement for the U.S. government as a Criminal Investigator, a relatively new position. Before that, she was a researcher for Uber, working on crisis response as a Protective Intelligence Analyst, preparing for incidents from extreme weather to terrorist attacks; she also examined Uber’s personnel and customer base. Earlier, she worked on crisis response for NATO in Brussels.
Since graduating Suzzette has been surprised at the impact of Franklin alumni. “You never know when individuals from Franklin will come back into your life.” She said that while you might not have been close as students, one can never tell what one’s relationship with fellow alumni will be, or what it can mean, after one graduates.
After all, she said, “Franklin graduates are everywhere, and accepting.”