As a Spring 2020, mid-pandemic graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, most of my post-undergrad plans fell flat on their face. I had secured two degrees in Communication Arts, with an emphasis in TV, radio, and film, and Strategic Communications from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, which could have landed me anywhere in the world doing who knows what. I knew few things for certain, but when I saw an ad for a one-year Master’s program that would fuse my skills in communication with my love for the arts, I knew the Bolz Center was the right place for me.
In my three years of undergrad, I created and hosted a radio talk show through WSUM Student Radio that showcased students’ self-made projects and addressed political and social justice issues. As Executive Director of Bucky Public Relations, a student-led pro-bono PR agency, I secured clients such as the Social Justice Center, WISCAP, and Girls on the Run. I was able to express my creativity while also exploring my passion for social justice and non-profit advocacy. But at the Bolz Center, I have the unique opportunity to continue learning about my position in the world, while also clarifying what role I’d like to pursue in it.
Having never had a full-time job before, the Bolz Center offers me a little taste of what that may look like in the realm of the arts, and shows me how I could combine my life’s passions with my work. The Bolz Center gave me a great applied learning placement with Forward Theater Company where I am doing just that. I have loved working with a company that was so quickly able to pivot and still provide the same content and show offerings with a little twist. I also adore FTC for centering social justice issues at the core of what they do and how they intend to let it shape what they continue to do. That is something I want and value in a future place that I work.
Aside from that, I have enjoyed all of the things, large and small, that the Bolz Center offers me. Every single staff member has my best interest in mind and has been nothing but gracious moving through such a tumultuous time. I am surrounded by an amazing community of people who are all deeply passionate about the issues by which we are all surrounded and are all emboldened to provoke a similar mentality in those around them. Each and every person in this program has so much to share and offer to the world and I am so proud to be standing among them.
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