Abigail Holtz- ‘19 is living her dream job as the Events and Community Outreach Coordinator at Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities. Her journey began at the University of Northwestern – St. Paul where she graduated with a Public Relations degree.
Holtz feels she received excellent preparation through the University of Northwestern – St. Paul. She says the Communication Department provides education that is “as real world as you can get.”
Her best bit of advice for students is to get a grip on group work. “Life is a group project,” says Holtz, who had her fair share of group work at college. In retrospect Holtz now sees the reason for those experiences as learning the value of interdependency.
Holtz also recommends that her most useful, and most difficult, class was PR Cases and Campaigns” which included its own very special kind of project – one that equips her to do her job today.
“Life is a group project.”
Abigail holtz
Holtz has some great tips for current Northwestern students:
- Offer your time and resources for volunteering. The relationships that you build will help create a professional network.
- Get a job on campus in an area which you feel you need to learn or grow in. Her most important mentor at Northwestern was her boss for her on-campus job.
- Get internships and be excellent in them. She says, “Be someone worth remembering.”
- Find a balance of volunteer/internship opportunities that include observation and doing.
Within the campus community, Holtz lived in the dorms during most of her time at Northwestern and was a Resident Assistant. She loved getting to be part of planning fun events as an RA. She also enjoyed watching the girls who she was with grow and mature over their year
Holtz would recommend the University of Northwestern – St. Paul for several reasons:
- An abundance of opportunities to be involved on campus.
- Chances for personal interactions with faculty.
- Christian worldview on the campus.
- Excellence that she sees within the Communication Department.
Today, Holtz is busy working for Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities, balancing the job duties of three people. According to Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities “At-A-Glance” fact sheet, UGMTC helps with homelessness, food, education and mental health therapy.
Holtz’ work within the organization includes cultivating church partnerships; leading community outreach efforts; managing a portfolio of events; digital online communications; technical logistics of creating campaigns and managing all event marketing, media and communications.
As Holtz continues to live and work towards positive change here within the Twin Cities, she is thankful to be an alumnus of the University of Northwestern – St. Paul.
