{"id":15668,"date":"2025-12-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=15668"},"modified":"2026-07-13T20:47:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T00:47:44","slug":"navigating-the-paradigm-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/navigating-the-paradigm-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating the Paradigm Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shymir Coakley will be one of 229 graduates having their degrees confirmed at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s 28th Winter Commencement on Saturday, Dec. 13.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s not always how you start, but how you finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University of Maryland Eastern Shore graduating senior Shymir Coakley<\/strong> can attest to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coakley, a finance major who is earning his degree during UMES\u2019 28th<\/sup> Winter Commencement on Dec. 13, came to campus following his freshman year at another college. While his college experience at UMES was a new one as a transfer, he was more than familiar with the campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was an Upward Bound student in high school, and we would go to UMES for the program,\u201d said Coakley, who resides in Salisbury. \u201cWhen making the decision to transfer, UMES became a priority because I knew people who went to UMES, including (Upward Bound Director) Dr. Nicole Gale, my sister, and a few other people who would make the move seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the familiarity with UMES made Coakley\u2019s initial transition seamless, the decision to change majors added a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was at my last institution, I was a physical therapy major because I was a track athlete. It all lined up,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know what I wanted to do or what major I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That all changed after Coakley attended a couple of financial conferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started thinking about the impact financial literacy has on the black community and culture, and after that, I knew what I wanted to do,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that a lot of people need help understanding, such as taxes, knowing the importance of credit, and investing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once set with his major, Coakley found his comfort zone and accumulated a number of accolades on his resume, including participation in the National Association of Black Accountants, the Student Government Association, the Campus Activities Board, and membership in Phi Beta Sigma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also earned a working position with the Maryland Municipal League (MML) during his senior year. Coakley leveraged that experience at the MML into a post-college job working with the Pennsylvania Municipal League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon reflection, Coakley said one piece of advice that he would give to anyone deciding to go to UMES is to take advantage of the experiences offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUMES is a great place for opportunity if you go looking for it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re willing to put your best foot forward and stay focused, you\u2019ll come out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not always how you start, but how you finish. University of Maryland Eastern Shore graduating senior Shymir Coakley can attest to this. Coakley, a finance major who is earning his degree during UMES\u2019 28th Winter Commencement on Dec. 13, came to campus following his freshman year at another college. While his college experience at…Read more Navigating the Paradigm Shift<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1559,"featured_media":15671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-15668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15668"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=15668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}