Knox College's newest graduates already are starting to make their marks in the world by launching careers, preparing for graduate school, and engaging in community service through AmeriCorps and other organizations.

Forbes magazine recently included Knox in its 2014 "Grateful Graduates Index," which identifies colleges and universities that "provide the best long-term value, or return-on-investment (ROI)" by tracking donations from graduates over a 10-year period. The index ranked Knox as No. 78 among private colleges.

Here's a quick look at what some members of the Class of 2014 are doing so far in their post-Knox lives.

Shelly Bhanot, a chemistry major from Barrington Hills, Illinois, is attending medical school. As a sophomore, she was accepted into Knox's selective, cooperative program with The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, which guarantees medical school admission to highly qualified students.

"As a chemistry major, I got an excellent chemistry education. And I was able to be a gender studies minor through this (cooperative) program, so I was able to expand my education. When I was interviewing for med school, with the dean of admissions, she was really, really interested in the fact that I didn't just study the sciences. She loved the fact that I was studying other fields."

Devin Compton, an anthropology and sociology major from Aurora, Illinois, will serve in KnoxCorps during 2014-15, working with the Galesburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, and he plans to join City Year, another service program, once his KnoxCorps fellowship ends. Eventually, he hopes to go into sports marketing.

His Knox experiences, he said, "have made me a critical thinker. They've helped me to analyze a lot of situations and to understand people from different walks of life."

Esther Farler-Westphal, a psychology major from St. Charles, Illinois, is working at Fifth Third Bank and participating in its leadership program.

"Liberal arts encouraged me to try different things and to take courses outside my major, like finance," she said. "The TA of that class is now with Fifth Third Bank, like other (Knox) alumni I know, and those alumni helped me get the job I'm going to now."

Ajoura Gwinn, a creative writing major from Orlando, Florida, is joining Americorps' City Year program in Denver, Colorado, where she will serve as a student mentor and work to reduce the dropout rate.

"I've had a lot of good research experience and opportunities granted to me through McNair (Scholars Program) and College Honors and a lot of TRIO help. I'm a first-generation college student, and I feel like all of these experiences and the availability of my teachers has really helped. I feel ready."

Dillon Kostka, a biology major from Coal Valley, Illinois, is working as a zookeeper at Niabi Zoo and hopes eventually to become director at a zoo.

"Knox prepared me well just by giving a versatile array of classes," he said. "The experiential learning here has been key for me -- I did my senior research project studying and assessing environmental enrichment in captive giraffe populations -- as well as the opportunities through Richter grants. I went to a conference in Toledo, a professional development course, and made a lot of connections there."

Hongyu "Sophie" Zhou, an economics major from Xi'an, China, is attending graduate school in Hong Kong to study advertising.

"Having been here as an international student for four years, I think Knox has prepared me for my journey," she said. "I don't fear my future. I feel really confident, no matter where I go."