During the holiday season, people enjoy taking a break from hectic routines and busy days to enjoy a more leisurely pace and time with family and friends.
For sisters Courtney Blaylock, Paula Carnaggio and Lynn Carnaggio, it’s definitely not all business.
The three sisters not only share a common family bond, but a connection in their passion for Bulldog baseball and in their financial work and educations at Mississippi State.
The natives of Carrollton have always cheered for MSU and take a “sister trip” every year to watch the Diamond Dawgs play in an out-of-town series. They’ve watched the team play at Vanderbilt, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Alabama, but their favorite venue, of course, is Dudy Noble Field. This summer, they traveled to Omaha, Nebraska, to watch the Bulldogs compete in the College World Series.
Blaylock was the first sister to enroll at MSU, where she met her husband before graduating with a degree in business administration in 2004. She started working in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in 2006 before moving to the Bagley College of Engineering dean’s office in 2011, where she is now a senior accountant.
“At different times when my sisters were in college, they both lived with me,” Blaylock said. “Now we live within maybe a mile and a half of each other. I think we’re probably closer now than when we were younger. We usually see each other almost every day.”
In addition to having a place to stay, Paula and Lynn benefitted from their older sister’s advice on which teachers to take. Paula, the middle child, graduated in 2012 with a degree in business administration. She has spent the last six years working for the MSU Foundation, where she is currently a business coordinator.
“It’s a great atmosphere,” Paula said. “The people here are great.”
Lynn, the youngest, took a slightly different course. She graduated in 2015 from the College of Business’ Adkerson School of Accountancy. During her time as a student, Lynn said she spent lots of time going to football, basketball and baseball games, as well as studying. She also spent time learning the ropes of her profession as a student worker in MSU’s Office of Sponsored Programs Accounting. That opportunity led to a full-time job in the department that she started a week after graduation.
“I had been a student worker in the same department for three years at that point,” Lynn said. “I’ve gone from being a student worker to an accountant to, now, a senior accountant. The student work experience helped a lot. We didn’t just sit there and file stuff. They let us do actual work and they’re fun people, so it was a good experience.”
With all three sisters living approximately an hour and 15 minutes from their hometown, their parents have spent plenty of time making the drive down Highway 82 to Starkville.
“They’ve joked about moving here,” Paula said. “They come almost every weekend. Our dad goes to the football games and our mom keeps Courtney’s child while we go to the game.”