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For the past two summers, Claire Kesicke ’02 learned about corporate bonds in an internship at SAC Capital Advisors in Stamford, Conn. Last winter, she interned on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This fall, she completed a senior honors thesis on United States Treasury bonds, long the benchmark by which all other securities are measured.
“I figured as debt buybacks were conducted in hope of eliminating our debt, this would become an important issue for traders to deal with,” says Kesicke, who recently accepted a job offer from SAC Capital Advisors. “I was curious about how the markets would be affected and what security would take on the role that the U.S. Treasuries once played.”
Kesicke, an economics and business major, was excited about her project because it is on the cutting edge of research in economics.
“I was probably only the second or third person to write a paper on alternative benchmarks in place of the U.S. Treasury bond,” she says. “I liked investigating this. I liked talking to people who use the U.S. Treasury in everyday life and finding out their opinions. They taught me a lot about what I was studying, and I also learned that my opinions are probably just as valid as those of the professionals I interviewed, which was a neat feeling.”
James DeVault, associate professor of economics, says that Kesicke, who graduated in January, had to work hard and fast to conduct her project in half the time that other students take to finish their theses.
“She did well,” he says. “There was a lot of arcane financial information that she had to dig up. It was difficult, but she was extremely motivated, very diligent, and worked very hard.”
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States, Kesicke added a new bit of research to her project — finding whether investors made a “flight to quality,” moving to safer, more liquid investments.
Kesicke says she received generous assistance and support from DeVault and other professors.
“Lafayette is an excellent school to work on projects like this because so many people are willing to take time out and help you,” she says. “Also, when I speak to traders and people from the U.S. Treasury, when they hear I’m from Lafayette, they are impressed and more willing to help me.”
A graduate of North Salem High School in North Salem, N.Y., Kesicke was a member of the campus chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the economics honors society, and competed on the swimming and diving team during all four years at Lafayette. She tutored beginning economics students and worked as a community service volunteer. Kesicke also was a member of the soccer team during her first two years at Lafayette.