Sam Wijeyakumar ’19 cares about education in a “hard-core way,” as she describes it. And for good reason: Education saved her life. She was a good student but dropped out of high school in the mid-1990s, becoming a victim of human trafficking. Her tenacity won out; she eventually finished high school and began college in
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Ivan Jaime ’20 believes in putting in hard work, no matter the situation. As he earned his diploma and went on to study marketing at the University of Texas at Austin, he was also working his way up at supermarket chain H-E-B. Starting out as a bagger, he had risen through the ranks to central
When Jennifer Judge Hensel ’19 first began her career journey, her heart was set on journalism. But, as she helped tell stories for student newspapers, she discovered a new passion: graphic design and layout. “I wasn’t much of a reporter, but I really liked organizing information on the page,” she explains. After earning an AS
Art teacher. Organic caterer. Crate & Barrel recruiter. Staffing firm owner. Pat Messina’s decades of diverse experiences have not only prepared her to serve as the School of Communication’s associate director of career services, but also to offer students a unique perspective as they embark on professional journeys of their own. Networking has always played
When you think of the skills needed for a career in biotech, communication may not rise to the top of the list. But, for Adam Zetter ’19, it’s exactly what he needed. His path began with a degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1996. His first
From a young age, Cassandra Libal ’19 knew she wanted to create change in her community. Growing up in inner-city Milwaukee, she was raised by a single mother who wasn’t able to provide financial support for higher education. To pursue her dream, she applied for a paid apprenticeship right out of high school: Milwaukee’s Police
Marcus King ’19 has always been a leader—it just came naturally, even as a student. Before he graduated from Southern Illinois University in 2011 with a journalism/integrated marketing communications degree, he was elected by 18,000+ of his peers to serve as the undergraduate student body president. In this role, he was responsible for representing student
As Jessie Pagliari (MSC ’20) was studying communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she often called her mom, Rose Pagliari (MSC ’19), as she walked home from class. From interpersonal interaction to the mother/daughter dyad, Jessie wanted to share what she was learning—and communication was a topic they were both interested in and
Transportation, aerospace, and even U.S. Congress: Gabrielle Torina ’19 had gained impressive work experience across a wide variety of fields—but she was ready to focus her work and build her career. Even before she earned her undergraduate degree at Judson University in 2017, Torina was attending open houses for Northwestern’s MS in Communication program. She
Growing up, Jason DeSanto, senior lecturer at Northwestern University, enjoyed getting up in front of a classroom full of his peers. Part of the Illinois high school forensics circuit, he looked forward to the thrill of participating in organized public speaking events. “I enjoyed the process of thinking about what allowed people to connect with