This week’s Campus Celebrity is a very familiar face on campus. Once an RA, but now working on his leadership skills in a different way, this week’s Campus Celebrity is Josh Wodka!
A sophomore from Nogales, Arizona, Josh is no stranger to sunny weather. But, that has not distracted him. He is the recipient of the highly esteemed and competitive Gates Millennium Scholarship, which is a scholarship funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to encourage education among students of diverse backgrounds. Since being awarded the scholarship he has also served as an Ambassador for the Gates Millennium Scholars and has spoken on various panels at different conferences.
Josh is also an active member of campus. He is a brother of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, part of the Emerging Leaders Program, Vote for Equality, and served as a Residential Advisor last semester. Unfortunately, Josh is a very career-driven guy and so in the name of said career he had to leave his position, and his lovely Newcomb residents behind. However, he has done something incredibly interesting with that time and has become an intern, doing volunteer clinical work, at a law office at a local firm.
“My internship is challenging me in ways that I couldn’t even have imagined and has really motivated me to pursue a career as a public interest lawyer or civil rights litigator,” Wodka says.
Josh knows how to combine business with pleasure though. He has a very exciting Spring Break planned. Along with many of the other members of Phi Kappa Psi, he will be participating in the American Library Association Leadership Conference in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!
“It’ll be a great mix of networking and leadership enhancement while still getting that oh so luvin’ sun!” Wodka said with a smile.
His time at Occidental has given him the opportunity to do many thins and Josh is incredibly grateful for his time here.
“Words cannot explain how much Oxy has changed my life and how my experiences over the last two years have shaped who I am as a person,” says Josh. “I really believe that Oxy’s motto—learning by doing-speaks volumes to how the institution perceives a truly liberal arts education. The social justice work I have been exposed to throughout my studies in various forums has impacted me in so many ways and is driving me to one day become an effective litigator and community advocate.”
Well, he might spend a lot of his time in the library, but we can see that it’s definitely paying off. We’ll look forward to seeing Josh Wodka do many great things with his future.