When Ariana Rieder first visited Radford in 2020, she was still recovering from injuries
she鈥檇 suffered as a passenger in a recent car crash 鈥� both hips broken, a concussion
and a back fracture that required her to wear a brace as she toured campus.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a journey,鈥� said Rieder, a New Columbia, Pennsylvania, native who, as a
Highlander, went on to study finance and accounting in the Davis College of Business and Economics and will graduate next month.
Freshman year, however, she still had some recuperating to do: 鈥淚t was a really long
recovery period.鈥�
鈥淭he second year, my life completely changed. I got involved with everything. At one
point, I was part of five organizations, all in one semester,鈥� she said.
鈥淕etting out of my comfort zone pushed me to heal a little bit more, and being around
like-minded people, especially people that had aspirations similar to mine.鈥�
Rieder joined the Student Managed Investment Portfolio Organization (SMIPO) and held
four offices, including that of president.
On the side, she also earned her license to sell insurance before she was 20, and
for the past two years, she has worked part-time for World Financial Group. After
graduation, that job will become full-time.
鈥淚 help people with their retirement, and we work in different areas like debt management,
cash flow, taxes. It鈥檚 the number one field that has the biggest amount of money in
it,鈥� Rieder said. 鈥淏ut outside of that, I enjoy helping people.鈥�
