My time at Bradley has been a wild ride.
I started off my career here as an 18-year-old from Aurora, Illinois, a drastically different landscape than the one Peoria offers. I was raised in a predominantly Hispanic community, and my exposure to differing views was not where I wanted it to be. So you can imagine my culture shock after arriving at a predominantly white institution.
Being in an environment where students come from across the country and across the world allowed me to see things from a different perspective and gain a sense of respect that would have taken years to cultivate had I not come to a campus like this one.
My fondest memories include living in Harper and Heitz Hall, as it was in those halls where I began taking my career seriously. Like many students, my first year was spent participating in countless clubs and activities that piqued my interest.
However, during my sophomore year, I became an asset to The Agency, an advertising organization on campus that helped other clubs advertise their events. I spent half of my time at the gym – working at the desk, not working out. Those 5:45 a.m. shifts were the worst part of my day, and my regards go out to the employees that open Markin now.
In my junior year, the president of The Agency was graduating and handed down the position of Advertising Representative to me. I looked up to him and still do today; he showed me the ropes and handed over his clients. This jump-started my career at The Scout, which will remain until the end of my senior year, when I will hand down the role to whoever is next.
As a psychology and advertising major, I got to experience two different ends of campus. The scientific, data-driven, analytical students in Bradley Hall who mostly kept to themselves were a contrast to the loud, artistic, creatively-inclined students in the GCC.
I often found myself leaving a quiet psych class and entering a wave of laughter and noise in a COM class. But the best thing about both my majors is that, because they often overlapped, I would learn the same things in both departments often at the same time because advertising is consumer psychology at its core.
It was these teachings that solidified my interest in advertising and made me sure of my path. I’ll be honest – advertising wasn’t always my first choice.
Ever since I realized that other people carried a consciousness of their own at around the age of six, I was set on studying psychology when I became older. I went through many phases until I finally decided on advertising.
From criminal justice to musical engineering to ice cream truck driving – I considered them all. Since I was sure I didn’t want to be a therapist, I had to choose one by my second year at Bradley, and I eagerly signed up for an advertising double major – the right choice, it seems like now.
I am passionate about where my career is heading, and I am sure I’m destined for great things. I’ve had internships and experiences that have coached me in sales, leadership, creativity, strategy and, most importantly, written and linguistic communication. I’m excited to see where my learning will take me, and it’s safe to say my time at Bradley will be one for the books.
