Age: 25
Year Graduated: 2011
Occupation: Special Education Teacher
Current Location: Orlando, FL

Stephanie Troisi was in middle school when she moved to Lake Nona with her parents after her father retired. Her family has been in Lake Nona since then, while Troisi began her journey to where she is now.

When she was a student at Lake Nona, Troisi had a post-high school goal of double majoring at the University of Central Florida but wasn’t entirely sure in which areas, something many students can relate to after graduating high school: “I was planning on going to UCF. … I had an idea of what I wanted to study and do for a job but wasn’t 100% confident and set in something.”

But Troisi found her footing. She discovered what she wanted to major in, leading to her current career path. “I graduated in 2011 and did graduate from UCF with only one major in special education. I quickly learned that science wasn’t my thing, so I detoured away from any double major in that area like I intended.”

Now a UCF graduate, she was able to start teaching special education. “I quickly got a job in Lake Nona teaching. I went back [to] UCF to earn my master’s degree and moved out [of] Lake Nona. I still teach in Orange County; however, I work a little closer to home and will graduate with my master’s in August.”

Troisi says she rarely has free time since she works multiple jobs, but when she does manage to snag some free time, she has two special buddies with some pretty cool names to pass the time with her. “I like to hang out with my favorite people – my cat KitKat and my dog Snickers.”

In the next five years of her life, she still sees herself continuing to be a teacher and hopes by that time that she’ll only be working one job. She is close to accomplishing one of her current goals when she obtains her master’s in Special Education later this month. Troisi also has a couple more goals set for herself before she enters the next decade of her life: “I’m focusing on being financially stable and not having lots of debt when I enter my 30s, so I’m working on decreasing that now in my 20s.”

She also tells me about the milestones she’s recently made after graduating from Lake Nona: “I purchased my own place in 2017. I adopted a cat in 2018 and a puppy just this year. I’ll graduate in a couple weeks … and am working on being the cool aunt to my two nieces.” Being the cool aunt is no easy feat, but with all Troisi has accomplished, I’m sure she’ll master that role in no time.