Hometown: Norwalk, CT
Major: Public Relations and Strategic Communications, minor in Business Entertainment
Year: Sophomore
Her Campus American: What made you decide to come to American?
Katie Stadler: “If I’m going to be honest, I really loved the quad… I had this picture perfect vision of what a college campus should look like in my head from movies and when I walked on the quad during my tour I had the feeling like this is it.”
“My original major was International Business and I knew American had a great study abroad program, so that’s another thing that drew me here.”
HCAU: What’s your major and future career goals?
KS: “I just switched my major to Public Relations and Strategic Communications, with a minor in Business Entertainment. I would love to go into the music industry, potentially to be an agent or a manager. Tour planning too, I’m a big micromanager in the best way.”
HCAU: What’s a typical day or week for you like?
KS: “There are two versions of what my day is like. Typically, I have my classes in the mornings because I like to get them done and out of the way. Then I usually go and give a tour around AU. I love giving tours and meeting new people and telling them why I love attending this university. If I’m not giving a tour, I’m usually peer facilitating AUx classes. When I’m not in class, I’m usually doing my homework, lesson planning, or trying to hang out with my friends as much as possible.”
HCAU: What’s your favorite college memory so far?
KS: “My most recent favorite college memory was my birthday. It was early September and my friends decided to spend the whole day with me. Also meeting my friends and really doing anything with them is a lot of fun.”
HCAU: What has been your favorite class at American so far?
KS: “One of my favorite classes was a complex problems class called Education, Problem or Solution. I really liked the teacher, but mainly I really like the topic of the class. We would talk about the education system, diversity, economic status, even talking about teachers and their salaries. In the future, I would like to go into teaching, so definitely taking a class and seeing all the problems that their are and how we want to fix them them made it really interesting.”
HCAU: What extracurriculars are you involved with on campus?
KS: “I’m a volunteer tour guide for AU, so I usually give tours on Mondays and Tuesdays, I’m an AUx peer facilitator, so I sit in on two classes on that and I get to know my students during my office hours. I’m also a part of the Asian American Student Union, which is about activism for Asians on campus, since they can be underrepresented. My new big one is Undergraduate Women in Business. One of my really close friends is on the e-board for the club.”
HCAU: What are some of your personal goals in the Undergraduate Women In Business club as well as the club’s goals?
KS: “Women in Business is a group where women empower one another since business is a very male dominated industry. The club brings it people who have graduated to build our network, build our resumes and some other really great stuff like that. I would definitely love to meet more women in the entertainment industry since that’s where I would like to go into. It’s also great to have connections to hear about their internships. Hearing first-hand experiences and advice from women who are in there right now is really great.”
HCAU: How can people get involved in Women in Business?
KS: “There’s an email link to join through Instagram and the club also has a Facebook page.”
HCAU: Favorite spot in DC?
KS: “Other than the national mall, which is a pretty basic answer, I really like Adams Morgan. The hub of Adams Morgan, like when you get about ten minutes away from the metro stop, it’s really cute and lively with lots of great food and cute coffee shops. Other than Adams Morgan, I also really like the Wharf because it’s so cute and picturesque and there’s also really cool events going on there.”
HCAU: Favorite spot to study on campus?
KS: “I’ve been liking the Bridge. When I don’t have anything too important, I like working on the quad, but typically I do work in my room. I should start going to the library.”
HCAU: Any advice to incoming freshman?
KS: “I think the best advice I could tell someone is just put yourself out there. Whether that’s joining a group or meeting people. You never know what could happen, you never know what connections you can make. Just joining groups in general. If you show interest towards a group they will show interest back at you. It also doesn’t hurt to just say ‘hi’ to someone walking down the hall, because you never know, that person could be your next best friend. It’s okay if it’s not going to work out, because college is all about trying new things and seeing what you like and what you don’t like.”