Over its 125 year history, The Scout has attracted student journalists of all backgrounds and future career goals to join its staff. While it’s true that The Scout is a practical way to launch a career in journalism, several alumni have pursued other paths.
When former Scout Editor Pat Oldendorf graduated from Bradley in 2011, he expected to teach English for the rest of his professional career. Today, Oldendorf is an executive office attorney for the Illinois Supreme Court.
“Law school had always been on my radar,” Oldendorf said. “I was a good writer. I was a good researcher. A lot of that kind of ties back to my journalism roots.”
Oldendorf spent two years teaching English to less fortunate students in rural Mississippi as a part of Teach For America. Afterward, he decided that teaching wasn’t for him.
“I knew I didn’t want to continue in education,” Oldendorf said. “I just, quite frankly, couldn’t hack it. I was not a great teacher. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had and I just couldn’t continue.”
Oldendorf attended the Chicago Kent School of Law and earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. He moved through multiple legal advising positions in Cook County government before reaching his current position at the Illinois Supreme Court.
“I think you should take every opportunity that presents itself no matter how weird or random,” Oldendorf said. “I think that you should look at your education, your experience and your skill set and then continue to pursue what you are interested in. Even if you can’t see the path, just keep walking down it and you’ll find your way.”
Learning how to communicate
Former Managing Editor Gretchen Welch graduated from Bradley in 2014 with an undergraduate degree in civil engineering. Since then, she has worked in civil engineering and construction jobs, now working as a construction consultant for K-12 schools.
“I help them [the principals] get stuff built, like as an owner’s [representative] for them,” Welch said. “Being able to communicate between education-minded people, principals and school boards and … construction people [is a valuable skill].”
Welch’s experience working for The Scout as a Copy Editor and Managing Editor equipped her with the communication skills that made her stand out throughout her career.
“I have to be able to walk on a construction site and hold my own and ask questions that maybe I don’t even know about the subject matter, really. But at least I can say, ‘Hey, what does that mean for this?’ You know, ‘What does that do to our schedule?’” Welch said. “And the writing – being able to write an email to someone is invaluable. Being able to write a technical report, invaluable. I know it’s gotten me interviews that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.”
Former sports reporter Jim Durbin graduated from Bradley with a journalism degree in 1993. After graduation, he moved back home to New Orleans. When pursuing a career in journalism didn’t yield results, Jim Durbin turned to what he knew best: the restaurant business.
“I went to grad school for a semester. And, you know, I started looking at what I would have to do to pay off my student loans and to actually make it in the biz … and I kind of gave up before I started,” Jim Durbin said. “You get out and you’re working for newspapers, as a stringer, and then also part-time at a radio station and you might be working for a television station part-time. I didn’t feel like having to work that hard to make $20,000 back then. Not when I can make $35,000 [or] $40,000 [working] for a restaurant.”
Jim Durbin quickly worked his way up to managing a restaurant in his hometown for many years after he left graduate school.
“In New Orleans, there’s a restaurant on every corner,” Jim Durbin said. “Maybe it was my journalism and my speech background [that helped me get my job]. I knew quite a few folks in New Orleans. When I moved back home it was natural for me to go work for a restaurant. It was really easy and I started in restaurant management and then kind of worked my way up.”
After a decade in the food service industry, Jim Durbin returned to school, on his wife’s recommendation, to become a certified personal accountant. He now owns his own practice in New Orleans.
“I went back to school, did what my wife told me to do,” Jim Durbin said. “Then I got the hours in accounting to sit for the CPA exam, and I’ve been a CPA with my own firm down here in New Orleans.”
A family tradition
Jim Durbin’s wife, Pam Durbin, and sister, Erin (Durbin) Craig, also worked for The Scout during their time at Bradley.
Erin (Durbin) Craig was a typist for the Scout from 1994 to 1997. She graduated with a music degree and a concentration in voice. After graduation, she worked for Saint Francis Children’s Hospital in Peoria and Bradley’s admissions and alumni relations departments. Craig currently works part-time for Kansas State University.
“I work in one of the graduate departments, agricultural economics [as] a student coordinator,” Craig said. “So basically, I’m the one that keeps the students on track to make sure that they are completing the paperwork they need to get their research hours done [and get] through the program in a timely manner.”
Although Craig’s career diverged from her major, she found that her experiences learning about the journalistic process translated into her work.
“One of the things I really learned from the paper was the whole PR angle of things,” Craig said. “When I got into those professional jobs, we had to do either press releases for an event or do interviews for an event. Whether it was for the paper or one of the news stations or something like that, I kind of understood what was going on and what they expected … because I had worked in the paper.”
Craig is an example of extracurriculars’ power to shape the college experience.
“What I did in an extracurricular [has] really helped me in other areas,” Craig said. “And so it’s important, I think, for students to know [not to] spend all your time in the classroom. Try to find those other activities that you’re really interested in, or you could be a part of, because they may be the things that really shape you.”
Pam Durbin was a typist for The Scout during her senior year at Bradley. She graduated with a degree in International Business in 1994. After graduation, she attended Tulane University School of Law and earned her J.D.
“I came down here and went to law school and did that for the three wonderful years that it was,” Pam Durbin said. “My first year out, I worked as a law clerk for a trial court judge in a little town in Louisiana. Then from there, I was looking for something permanent. I saw the job [listing] and … luckily, at the time, I didn’t know how competitive it was because I probably would have been a lot more nervous when I interviewed.”
Pam Durbin currently works as a staff attorney for the Federal Court of Appeals in New Orleans, a position she called, “the best law job ever.”
“It’s kind of like being a law clerk, but instead of working for one single judge, my work could go to any judge. And it’s essentially just research and writing,” Pam Durbin said.
Though she only spent one semester working for The Scout, Pam Durbin found that her undergraduate experience expanded her horizons and equipped her for a successful career.
“Knowing a lot about a lot of different things was much more a Bradley thing than it was a Tulane thing,” Pam Durbin said. “[In] undergrad in general, you get to do a little bit more of, ‘Let me just take this class because it sounds interesting.’ And getting involved with the paper was something that I [had never done] when I was in high school, so it kind of gave me a broader view of how things work in general.”
‘English major with a purpose’
Former Scout Editor Dean Nielsen graduated from Bradley with communications and political science degrees in 1995. Nielsen’s plans to work for a print newspaper were overturned when the price of newsprint shot up during his junior year and caused hiring freezes across the industry.
“I probably sent out 300 resumes to different places. I had two job offers, you know, within 60 days of graduating, and … neither one of them were really a great fit for me,” Nielsen said. “They wanted me to kind of cover subjects I didn’t really want to cover in communities I didn’t want to live in. So then, I turned to my other passion, which is politics, and then headed in that direction.”
In 2010, he launched a political consulting firm in Seattle. Today, that firm has expanded to include offices across the country. Though his desire to be a professional journalist didn’t pan out, Nielsen found that his experience working for The Scout lent itself to his career in politics.
“I use the skills and stuff from my journalism background virtually every day … I always thought that journalism was an English major with a purpose,” Nielsen said. “It’s like the ability to write quickly, to write in short and snappy and punchy sentences, and headlines. All these are skills that I still use.”
As someone who hires young college graduates, Nielsen wants students to know that practical skills often take precedence over college major or GPA when it comes to hiring decisions.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about what your major is,” Nielsen said. “When you graduate college, nobody cares. I would just focus on developing your skills and running with it. If you’re passionate about writing, learn how to become the best writer you can be.”
