Poised to begin a new chapter beyond high school, Pennington’s Class of 2026 kicked off their Horizon Experience last Friday by hearing from alumni who once walked that same transitional path just a few short years ago. For over two decades, the Horizon program has served as a bridge beyond the School’s campus, promoting creativity, growth, and self discovery for students as they set out for internships and explore projects that offer real world challenges in new environments. 

Before the seniors could begin those internships and shadowing experiences—at places as diverse as Princeton University Athletics, Mercer County Prosecutors Office, New Jersey State Senate, Merrill Lynch, Newtown Veterinary Hospital, McCarter Theatre, Neutrogena, and MLB—they received some sage advice on a variety of topics from some former Pennington Red Hawks.

After enjoying a special breakfast in Yen’s Wesley Forum, students settled in to listen to some remarks from Akeya Fortson-Brown ’18, an entrepreneur who holds a bachelors in business administration from Rider University and a certificate in women’s entrepreneurship from Cornell University. Fortson-Brown began by asking the soon-to-be graduates to define greatness, explaining that loving what you do in life provides longevity for the greatness to which you aspire. “You can’t sustain a life you don’t enjoy living every day,” she advised. “What you learn on the way to greatness, is the greatness; greatness lives in the process.” 

As someone who juggles two businesses—The Hustle Lab, LLC and Black Vanity, LLC—Fortson-Brown’s advice to students was to be present and to learn how to pivot around missteps and challenges. While still at Pennington, Fortson-Brown was on the Cheer team and ran track. She once believed her future included a career as a financial analyst, but as she explained to the audience, sometimes life has a way of changing your trajectory when you least expect it. “If I always got caught on my last stumble and fixated on that, I wouldn’t be able to move forward,” Fortson-Brown said.

Later that morning, additional Pennington alumni returned to campus to offer perspective and advice to the Class of 2026. Associate Head of School and Varsity Boys' Soccer Head Coach Chad Bridges moderated a student-athlete panel for seniors planning to continue their athletic career at the college level. 

The group featured a diverse panel of both male and female athletes representing a wide array of sports at all levels of collegiate play, from DI to DIII. Ellie Schinsky ’22, who attends Rutgers University, spoke about swimming; Aidan Prestigiacomo ’25, who recently transferred to TCNJ, spoke about football; Lukas Gessner ’22, a student at Babson College, spoke about soccer, as did Hailey Adamsky ’24, who attends University of Pennsylvania; and Kae Kilic ’25, who recently completed his freshman year at Haverford College, spoke about basketball.

Two other guests rounded out the panel: Charles Huckel, a rising sophomore on Princeton University’s rowing team; and current Pennington parent and assistant coach for Princeton University’s field hockey team, Melisa Meccage P’24 ’29 ’29. During her own college play, Meccage was a two-time All American field hockey player and is also the cofounder of an international sports touring company.