A look at some of the members of the Class of 2007, where they've been, and where they're going.

Name: Jeffrey Holmes
Hometown: Simpsonville
High School: Bob Jones Academy
Major: International business and finance
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Jeffrey Holmes, a South Carolina Honors College student, will never forget the semester he took micro-economics with Dr. Robert Carlson. He had chosen the University of South Carolina because of its top-ranked program in international business. He expected challenging classes, and Carlson didn't disappoint him.

"No other professor challenged me to rethink how I viewed economics and the world," said Holmes. "He demanded a lot and never accepted simple answers, which was daunting. He pressed me, and I learned to appreciate the importance of specificity and having valid premises for drawing conclusions."

As a student majoring in international business, Holmes wanted to study abroad. After his first year, he studied in Wittenburg, Germany. He spent two May sessions studying abroad, one in western Europe and another through the honors college to study the cultural and spiritual heritage of Greece and Turkey.

He also traveled one summer to Cluj-Napoca, Romania, as part of the Moore School's Global Issues English Immersion Camp for Romanian high-school students. After graduation, Holmes will return to Romania to participate in the university camp again, this time as an instructor.

"Through my study-abroad experiences, I've learned to appreciate how culture affects doing business," said Holmes.

Holmes landed an internship after graduation with South Carolina's Palmetto Institute, where he will participate in the Congress-Budunstag Young Exchange Program for Young Professionals. He will head to Germany in August where he will spend five months.

"I've been involved with the Palmetto Institute while at USC," said Holmes, who started a student internship group for the organization called the Palmetto/Moore Research Team. "I've decided that, ultimately, all roads lead back to South Carolina for me. I like what the Palmetto Institute is doing, and I want to find ways to help South Carolina become an economic driving force."

He credits Dr. Carolyn Jones, who leads the Moore School's Global Issues Camp in Romania, with helping him get his job with the Palmetto Institute.

"She helped put me on a new trajectory," he said.

Last month, Holmes was recognized by the Moore School of Business as an Outstanding Scholar and among its Top 50 Emerging Leaders.