Emily Purdon
Class of 2007
What did you do after Nysmith?
After Nysmith, I attended The Madeira School in McLean, VA with a few of my Nysmith classmates. I lived on campus the first two years and really enjoyed playing basketball, soccer and volleyball. I traveled with my classmates and teachers to Italy and Greece my sophomore year, and to Italy and Spain my junior year. During my senior year co-curriculum program, I volunteered at Nysmith and taught math with Mrs. Guerro and Mrs. Buch. I decided to attend Virginia Tech, without any Madeira girls by my side! While the prospect of a large state school was out of my comfort zone, I was also excited to break free. I quickly joined a sorority, Tri Delta, and became involved with the Pamplin College of Business as a student mentor and teaching assistant (to make a big school feel a bit smaller). Over the summers in college, I enjoyed finance internships with Morgan Stanley, the Boeing Company and a small investment advisory firm, VLP Advisors in Vienna, VA. Within finance, I found my love of financial planning and wealth management. My senior year, I competed in Ameriprise’s financial planning case study competition in Boston and placed 4th nationally. In December 2015, I graduated with a B.S. in Finance, magna cum laude, and was awarded the program’s Most Outstanding Senior.
Tell us about your full-time job that you have now.
I just had my two-year work anniversary at Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney (SBSB) in McLean, VA. SBSB is a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firm with $3.2B assets under management. I provide financial planning and investment analysis, research, and support to about 60 client relationships. I also support the tax department by preparing about 50 individual and trust income tax returns. Within the first 6 months at SBSB, I passed the CFP® Certification Examination. My favorite memory is speaking at Charles Schwab’s annual conference, Schwab IMPACT in Chicago, this past November. I was on a panel of 4 young advisors selected to speak about breaking into the industry.
How did going to Nysmith impact your life?
The connections and friendships I made at Nysmith with my peers and teachers are still going strong today. I get coffee regularly with Mrs. Small, Mrs. Busch and Mrs. Greene! Other than being thankful for such kind people in my life, I appreciate the education that I received. When I started at Madeira and then at Virginia Tech, I realized my strength in writing and mathematics was a direct result of my education at Nysmith. The teachers at Nysmith nurtured me and helped me learn in a safe and supportive environment. I am so thankful for their patience and wisdom.
What advice (if any) would you give to a current Nysmith student and/or parent?
If you asked my parents in 2nd grade (when I started Nysmith) or in 8th grade, “What do you think your daughter will study in college?” I would bet that anything math-focused wouldn’t have made a list of 50. They kept me in tutoring programs and clubs throughout elementary, middle and high school. Math finally clicked for me, as a freshman in college. So, I would tell a parent of a current Nysmith student… your child(ren) is/are surrounded by the best and brightest in the area. These students are wise beyond their years, and teachers are often teaching at multiple levels per grade to keep up! Over time, as you watch their successes, you will come to realize that there is truly no better place to learn than the halls of Nysmith School. My friends are doing incredible things in their twenties, and I truly believe they too would thank the teachers and administrators of Nysmith.
FAVORITES
Science Fair Project: I took swabs of household items, grocery carts and public doors and grew bacteria! I remember taking pictures of what was growing in the petri dishes. It landed me 2nd place in the Science Fair.
Place to Hang out at Nysmith: Soccer Field.
Classroom story involving one of your teachers: Mr. Blaschke put sticky notes on my knees when I was sitting incorrectly in the chair. Bad news, I never broke the habit.
After school Club: Soccer/Basketball Club
Do you still know all the words to the 50 states song? What state were you? Nope, but I am at least 90% sure I was NC! (editor’s note: she found the photo to prove it, she was NC!)
Nysmith Memory: Mrs. Amberly greeting me with “Emily Amberly” in a sing-song fashion as I walked down the halls. Always made me smile.
