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When Cole Werkheiser ’09 was figuring out his career path, he took an internship learning real estate from The Katsias Company and President John Katsias ’82.

Werkheiser’s internship was set up through Norfolk Academy’s Career Connections Program, a then-young experiment in which students worked for companies and organizations led by established alumni and school friends.

The experience was invaluable for Werkheiser. Trusting his NA education, Katsias gave him good jobs, exposing him to what real estate is really like. Werkheiser impressed, so much so that after graduating from James Madison University’s College of Business, he landed a full-time job with Katsias as a sales and leasing associate.

Fast forward more than a decade. Career Connections is thriving, offering more than 50 internships and helping upward of 80 Upper School and college students each summer. One company involved is Pembroke Real Estate; when Werkheiser took a job there in 2018, he requested the opportunity to build an internship program and connect it with his alma mater.

“With a lot of schools, your education ends when you walk out the door,” Werkheiser said. “That’s not the case at Norfolk Academy.”

Ruth Acra ’86 was the architect of Career Connections. A Lower School teacher her first five years at NA, she took the newly created job of Alumni Relations Director in 1997. Early on, the Alumni Board expressed interest in connecting older, established graduates with younger ones still getting their feet wet in the world.

The internship program debuted in 2004. It started small; the first summer there were seven offerings, which Acra’s classmate, fellow NA teacher-coach Sean Wetmore ’86, helped set up.

By the following summer, the number of internships was up to about 15. The next year, 20. Acra knew she had a success story, in many ways.

“Making connections and networking are so important in this world,” Acra said. “And Norfolk Academy alums do a great job supporting our younger Bulldogs.”

Sheila Tarasiuk ’99 co-founded Pedal Retail Advisors in 2020. Pedal is a retail real estate brokerage and advisory that serves entrepreneurs and growing companies.

A few summers ago, Tarasiuk joined Career Connections. Pedal is a small team and needed interns who could start with a high level of professionalism and self-sufficiency, because their hard work is a necessity. Tarasiuk knew Academy graduates would have strong writing and editing skills and be able to make presentations without a lot of guidance. She also knew they’d be of strong character because of NA’s Honor System.

“Integrity is a huge piece of what we look for,” Tarasiuk said. “If they have integrity and are naturally curious, they’re going to represent us well.”

Lydia Sweeney ’21 found Pedal last year as she scrolled NA’s Career Connections webpages. She wasn’t set on a particular career path but liked that Pedal was owned by a woman and that she’d have the chance to work the entire summer.

Sweeney took full advantage of her opportunity. Picking Tarasiuk’s brain at weekly lunches and diving into her responsibilities, she developed an interest in data analytics and helping clients find prime locations by crunching important statistics.

Last school year, Sweeney was studying abroad so she applied for internships on her own. She realized quickly the value of NA’s program.

“It’s incredibly hard when you’re just a name on a paper,” Sweeney said. “It’s so much more powerful to set up a job or internship through a connection.”

Unhappy with her options, Sweeney reached out to Acra. Career Connections was already full, but Acra suggested she contact Tarasiuk. Pedal already had another NA alum for the summer, but Tarasiuk had been impressed by Sweeney’s work. She connected her with her own mentor, who owns Scarpa, a women’s fashion boutique in Charlottesville, where Sweeney is studying marketing and information technology at UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce.

Sweeney spent this past summer with Scarpa, generating and analyzing reports showing customer purchase activity and social media engagement. She’s on track to graduate in May and pursue a career using the data analytics skills she has developed during her two internships.

Acra retired over the summer after 32 years of service to NA but has no doubt Career Connections will continue to thrive under the leadership of new Alumni Relations Director Charlotte Zito ’99.

Stories like that of Werkheiser, Tarasiuk, and Sweeney are perfect examples of why.

“To me, this is what Norfolk Academy is all about— relationships,” Acra said. “Alumni are giving back in an area that is so important.”

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2024 Academy Magazine.

Summer 2025 Internship applications will be available January 6. The final day to apply is February 14.