Class of 2009

English, Creative Writing & Women's Studies and Gender Studies major

Business Administration & International Studies minor

Relating my professional internship experience with my educational framework proved to be an invaluable practice, as it required me to be cognizant of my career goals and my professional objectives. The experiential learning program pushed me to correlate the work that I was enjoying in the professional sector with the material that I was learning in the classroom; it encouraged me to process the sociological, philosophical, and political interactions between what I was learning and what I was doing. Connecting my professional experience with my education during my undergraduate studies has carried on through my work today in the legal field. As an attorney, I am proud to be a continuing student of the legal profession. Experiential learning during my undergraduate education trained me to value my profession, regularly set professional goals for myself, and to always connect life with learning.

I had the humbling opportunity to intern at the United States Senate Office of Barack Obama, and the experiential learning at the Senate office was remarkable, inspiring, and important. My skill set and knowledge base immediately flourished through a newfound perspective of policy, lawmaking, and current events, all while never losing focus on the prioritized importance of constituent services. The profound knowledge, positive attitudes, inherent values, and noble ethics of those staff members who worked in Former President Obama’s Senate Office were palpable and contagious. The staff members shared their unparalleled energy with their intern staff. I discussed my newfound skill set and optimistic mentality that I cultivated at the Senate Office in my experiential learning course, which enabled me to consciously propel myself into new professional understanding. These traits of professional integrity, unrelenting passion, and tenacious ethics that I developed at the Senate office and through experiential learning have directly translated to my career as an attorney and advocate.

The framework that I gained through experiential learning has had a direct impact on my legal career, personal and professional goals, and my community awareness. Experiential learning at Loyola provided me with the valuable tool of being cognizant of my professional knowledge and personal integrity on many levels. Forging relationships with professional mentors at such a young age in the vibrant city of Chicago was unique; consciously learning how to deepen my impact on the world through building such relationships and like avenues with established professionals was even more rare. Experiential learning trained me to be mindful as to how my own professional footprint can impact me and my perspective as it relates to my loved ones, my colleagues, my clients, my community, my city, and ultimately, my country and world view. My current professional engagement, personal relationships, and career goals for the future have been bettered by practicing mindfulness and gratitude, skills that were gained and nurtured through experiential learning at Loyola.

Web: http://pieperlawoffice.com/attorneys/julie-m-fontanarosa/