Traveling over bumpy dirt roads between the snowy Himalayas, Tessa Urbanovich (’15) spent two months in Nepal, taking part in an earthquake relief effort soon after her Chapman graduation.
“To see that smiles, laughter, and shared meals were ready to be enjoyed, even in a shack on a dirt path in the Nepali mountains, it changed me! I don’t need a second degree or a ‘big girl job.’ The point of life is to make connections, feel love, and be happy,” said Urbanovich.
Post-graduation plans will differ for each student depending on his/her passion. Based on what they want to do and where they want to go, graduates have multiple options they can choose from. The wide variety of options can be seen from some of the paths Chapman University graduates chose to take.
After graduating with a B.A. in communication studies, Urbanovich interned for an animal rights outreach program representing PETA, travelling 14 states in the south of the U.S. This “feelings-based activism” internship inspired her to go on her “next adventure to connect with others’ deep humanity.” That led to Nepal.
Junior political science major Aden Vaughn posing in uniform.
Junior political science major Aden Vaughn will pursue a far different life after graduation.
Vaughn is joining the Air Force as a Remote Piloted Aircraft Pilot after he graduates. In Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) while at Chapman, Vaughn is one of 150 other people to be selected nationwide for the position. Because Chapman itself doesn’t have an ROTC unit, he goes to USC part time for theirs.
Adrina Movesian, known by her stage name AdrinaRose, graduated from Chapman in December 2014 and pursued a career after her major in television broadcast journalism and minor in advertising. The founder and CEO of AdrinaRose TV, a fashion and entertainment website, AdrinaRose manages the company and serves as the editor in chief for all the online content. While the normal route for a broadcast major is to advance from a small market, she didn’t want to do that, so she started her own website.
“It has been an amazing and very hard experience, but I know that I have learned more about the business doing what I do now than I ever would have,” said AdrinaRose. “Through my experiences at Dodge, I was able to blend all of my passions into one dream job,” she said, crediting Chapman for opening her eyes to the possibilities of getting into broadcasting.
While AdrinaRose created her own company, Alinda Wang pursued a job at VIZIO. Graduating Chapman in May 2015 with a major in business administration, Wang became the Associate Product Manager of VIZIO in November. She started off at VIZIO as the Product Management intern during her senior year and kept interning until she was offered the full-time position.
“I didn’t feel professionally stable because I hadn’t secured a full time job right after graduation, but I knew I loved the company I was working for, I enjoyed what I was doing, and had a gut feeling that if I continued to push forward, all my efforts would pay off,” said Wang.
Although she landed the job on her own, she credits her internship advisor (Professor Clark Higgins in the business school) for helping guide, encourage, and motivate her in the right direction. “He took a passion in supporting my success at my internship,” she said.
While he is still finishing up his time at Chapman, Hugo Flores is another student planning to pursue a job after graduation. A senior integrated educational studies major double minoring in leadership and disability studies, Flores is currently working as an Assistant Director for Mathnasium. Having spent more than a year at the company, he plans to continue working for it and also wants to work on his masters in teaching/counseling.
Apart from careers, another option for college graduates is pursuing grad school. Vanessa Sanchez is currently a senior sociology major with an emphasis on social work and a minor in psychology. After graduation, Sanchez will be attending the University of Southern California for its social work program.
“I want to go to Spain and work as a social worker there because I have friends there,” said Sanchez of her plans as a future social worker. “I want to go over there while I’m not married with kids.”
For Urbanovich, it’s not important that she makes a lot of money after graduation. Now in Portland, Oregon, she is working at a café and teaching music and says she’s “simply happy.” And that’s enough for her post-graduation right now.
