RELEASED: December 31, 2009

By Leigh Ivey

DANVILLE, KY—Centre College promises its students personal education that leads to extraordinary success, and Sebastian B. ("Ben") Vaneria '05 is one of the many young alums who knows that the College makes good on this promise. 

After recently graduating from Albany Law School in New York, Vaneria has been named an assistant counsel for the United States Department of the Navy.

Working in Washington, DC, Vaneria offers legal advice to Military Sealift Command (MSC), an organization that controls the majority of the replenishment and transportation ships for the Navy.

"Most people envision battleships when they think of the Navy," Vaneria says. "However, the Navy also plays an important role in transporting supplies to our military troops engaged in battle overseas."

That's where MSC comes into play.

"Our office assists in the procurement of ships, provides defense in the event of litigation and ensures that all ships abide by environmental regulations during their voyages," Vaneria says.

His success in this field and in law school, he feels, is largely due to his years at Centre.

"Centre played an enormous role in preparing me for law school," he says. "I didn't appreciate the amount of writing we did—and the amount of feedback we received—at Centre until I started law school. All the work can really provide Centre students with a leg-up on the competition in graduate school, if they choose that route."

Because the intense workload at Centre also requires students to develop remarkable time-management skills, Vaneria says, the challenges he faced in law school were easily met.

"Something about playing two sports, joining a fraternity, trying to pass science classes and keeping an active social life teaches you to stay on top of your schedule," he says. "That skill helped with law school, and it continues to help in my new career."

Though he says only time will tell where his future will take him, Vaneria plans to work for the Department of the Navy for at least 10 years. He is also interested in practicing criminal law or beginning his own law firm "at some point down the road."

Vaneria is one of many young Centre graduates who is finding success in the wider world. For more stories about how Centre prepares its students for life after graduation, click here, here and here.

Have comments, suggestions, or story ideas? E-mail leigh.ivey@centre.edu with your feedback.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.