Marketing major Rosa Sanchez Alvarado ’24 graduated with a diverse set of professional experiences built during her time at Berry.
She points out that marketing courses challenge students to learn new concepts while putting knowledge into practice. For example, in one class, students listened to the marketing needs of nonprofit directors then drafted real-world marketing strategies and new content for each organization. They later received feedback on the effectiveness of their recommendations.
For another class, Rosa worked with her professor to design a project that she could use in an internship position. She created a month-long marketing campaign and a series of blog posts that deployed the minute they were graded.
Beyond the classroom, Rosa invested in career-related jobs and internships where she worked with different demographics. At The Spires, a Berry College-affiliated retirement community, she designed marketing campaigns on recruitment and property. In a position for a group of residential college programs, she nurtured the growth of 18- to 23-year-olds in community, faith and leadership by managing social accounts and event planning.
As a first-year mentor partnering with a faculty member to teach the BCC 100 course, she supported incoming students navigating the college transition. She loved helping them connect and find support, saying, “If you want to learn and grow, Berry is a school where students help and push each other. We become close friends in classes. It is a culture of students that challenges each other to be better.”
Rosa notes that what she taught freshmen applies to her own future: “College made me more resilient. I didn’t realize I was afraid to fail until I got here. I caught myself feeling like I didn’t want to try things because I didn’t want to be bad at them. Then I realized this is the place to try things. Now I’ve applied for internships and gotten some. I’ve applied for others and not gotten the position. I’m trying to remember these things after graduation.”
Taking her own advice in an entrepreneurship class, she got up the nerve to pitch a business plan for a local wedding venue she’d like to open and received an angel funding grant.
Most importantly, Rosa says she learned how to find support in college. “I’ve never experienced such a strong community,” she remembers. “I came to Berry during Covid-19, and it was hard, and it taught me so much. I'm grateful Berry was creative and figured out how to continue to do so much in person. That season showed me my professors really want success for their students.”
