Make it Happen for You by Augustana College

MAKE IT HAPPEN FOR

YOU

In these pages you’ll see Augustana graduates from the Class of 2018 who, five years ago, were right where you are now. Some came because they’d heard about the quality of the major they wanted. Some had no idea what to major in, but still had a feeling about the place. And one (Mitchell, at the end) knew the college didn’t have his major. Yet he’d heard about how Augustana prepares students with skills just as important in the long run. What do they all have in common? They have become so much more than they had imagined five years earlier. Augustana made it happen for them, and will make it happen for you, too.

President Steve Bahls

ryan jenkins

connections “ When you’re working with a faculty member who cares about you, who listens to you, who you feel really understands what you want to become…. That’s a unique experience I wouldn’t trade anything for.”

career

Ryan used his Augie Choice $2,000 for an internship with CBS News in New York City. He began his job with ABC affiliate WQAD-TV while finishing his degree. Those opportunities and the one-on-one focus of faculty made a difference.

success “ I wanted to be great and succeed at many things…. I also knew I learned best in a small classroom environment with one-on-one faculty interaction. Augustana is the perfect place to find both of those qualities.”

claire herdegen Claire had four internships, studied in Spain and Norway, toured Europe with the Augustana Choir and performed in China with the Chamber Singers. She learned Spanish, drove dogsleds and saw the northern lights. Today she is a financial analyst with Aon Service Corporation in Chicago.

allan daly Allan’s combination of majors in Classics and mathematics earned him a prized internship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, which led him to decide to pursue health care research. Now he is working on his master’s at The Dartmouth Institute at Dartmouth College.

classic “ I used my Augie Choice on a study-away trip where I got to travel around Greece for three weeks. The beauty of antiquity is breathless.”

“ I do not know if my Classics major made me stick out when I applied at Dartmouth. I’m sure it caught some people’s attention. But it did make me stick out when I applied for the Texas Medical Summer Research Internship Program at Augustana, which was a major selling point when I applied to grad school.”

Rob Strong Photography

current

advantage

achievement

valeria melo A first-generation college student, Valeria took advantage of her Augustana opportunities: internship at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, medical service in Nicaragua, Academic All-American in track and field, and more.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Augustana is where I gained the confidence, support and inspiration to pursue my dreams, no matter how big.â&#x20AC;?

Now she is a medical student at her dream school, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

kris kizer Kris applied his academic interests to his work in Augustana’s EDGE Entrepreneurial Center, creating business solutions for clients. He found that with creativity and innovation he could “facilitate growth for others and improve organizations dramatically.”

personal

“ I felt that Augie was the right place to accelerate my personal and professional growth and challenge me academically, compared to the rest of the liberal arts institutions I appled to.”

professional

Today Kris is a business leadership intern at the famed Leo Burnett agency in Chicago.

zhiqing (janice) wu How did Janice land a job at Microsoft? Skills, experience, confidence and an amazing portfolio—including her prize-winning plan for the Rogers Business Plan Competition, and marketing plans she created in the Advertising Developers club in Augustana’s CORE.

above

Janice and her team’s winning idea, which started as “scribbles” on paper, turned into a comprehensive 35-page business plan.

beyond “ There are many things that make Augustana memorable, ranging from the beautiful campus to its diverse students. But what sticks out the most are my relationships with professors. They were, and still are, so willing to go above

Photographer: Eddy Atinda

and beyond….”

life Twice in four years, Dylan helped lead the Vikings to the Division III Men’s Basketball National Championships.

lessons

“ This whole four years has been an incredible learning experience. I obviously learned a lot in school, but the lessons about life that basketball taught me will ultimately determine how the rest of my life plays out.”

dylan sortillo Dylan learned what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like behind the scenes with a sports organization during his internship with Quad Cities River Bandits minor league baseball. Today he works in marketing and sales for the Arizona Diamondbacksâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;according to Forbes magazine, the best professional sports organization to work for in America.

Dana Gibbons Photography

intelligence Today Megan is a software engineer at ESPN Technology in Bristol, Conn. Receiving the phone call with that offer was one peak of her Augustana career—and the other was her AI class, which “reminded me why I love my major so much.”

megan janssen When Megan told her Augustana mentor she was interested in knowing more about cyber security, he volunteered his time to lead a small independent study group with her and a few other computer science students.

Lindsay Vigue Photography

He also recommended that she apply for a scholarship to go to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, where she made the contacts that led to a job offer from ESPN.

emotion

â&#x20AC;&#x153; It is such a rewarding feeling to know that all of your hard work has paid off.â&#x20AC;?

hayden holland Hayden found the balance for which Augustana is known. He majored in chemistry, played lacrosse, and was accepted into his first-choice graduate schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Marquette University for a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry.

better

â&#x20AC;&#x153; On top of that, Augie has renowned science programs, and my visit to the chemistry department showed me that they pride themselves on helping students prepare for the future by providing excellent facilities and many opportunities for research as an undergrad.â&#x20AC;?

balance â&#x20AC;&#x153; I loved the balance of academics and athletics that Division III provides, and Augustana was the best school in that regard....â&#x20AC;?

anna dispensa Anna knew Augustana’s teacher education program was the one for her. But she never imagined she could study abroad and still graduate in four years— “an opportunity that many other schools did not offer education majors.”

global “ I used my Augie Choice to intern at the Alpha Primary School in Kingston, Jamaica, with Dr. Egan and about 20 of my peers. I also worked with the students! This opportunity allowed me to challenge my ideas about the traditional American schooling system and embrace new ideas….”

Along with her internship in Kingston, Jamaica, Anna also interned at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital School in London, and the Starlight Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Foundation in Sydney, Australia. Today she teaches first-graders at DuJardin Elementary School in Bloomingdale, Illinois.

leo nguyen Leo came to Augustana from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Today he is in Washington, D.C., working as a communications associate at the Coalition on Human Needs.

local

“ I used my Augie Choice to intern at the Congressional Campaign for Representative Cheri Bustos in Rock Island. This served as a stepping stone for me to gain professional political experience that helped distinguish my résumé from others.”

gabby gambino lyon

Considered quiet and shy in high school, Gabby wanted to challenge herself in college. With the support of her professors and community, she led Homecoming Week twice, traveled abroad twice, and majored in engineering physics.

good job

Purpose Photography â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Adriana Byrum

Gabbyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s summer internship with Pepper Lawson Construction and Ziegler Cooper Architects led to a full-time job offer. Today she is a field engineer at Webber Commercial Construction, LLC, near Houston, and living in the high-rise she helped design as an intern.

ninna mendoza

good in the world Ninnaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s belief and ability in doing good for others has taken her from co-founding a Campus Kitchen at Augustana, to research at the Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, to her fellowship with Project Horseshoe Farm, a community health non-profit in Alabama.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; I actually first visited on my birthday and let me say, it was a wonderful way to spend the day. I was amazed at how warm and welcoming everyone was.... and of course, the gorgeous campus was an added bonus.â&#x20AC;?

mitchell johnson Mitchell is one of 175 student-athletes, so far, who have made Augustana #1 in Illinois (#7 in the nation) for number of Academic All-Americans overall, and #1 in the nation for men’s track & field/cross country. Now an actuarial assistant at Horace Mann Educators Corporation in Springfield, Ill., he will always be an Academic All-American.

long run “ Ultimately, in the long run, the academic side is what’s going to make a difference. To continue to learn and apply the skills that I’ve gained is going to last me the rest of my life.”

â&#x20AC;&#x153; I never thought I would be at that level. Augustana just prepares you for that experience.â&#x20AC;?

Kari Bedford Photography

new level

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Make it Happen for You

Articles inside

Mitchell Johnson

Ninna Mendoza

Gabby Gambino Lyon

Leo Nguyen

Anna Dispensa

Hayden Holland

Megan Janssen

Dylan Sortillo

Zhiqing (Janice) Wu

Kris Kizer

Valeria Melo

Allan Daly

Claire Herdegen

Ryan Jenkins