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At Dominican, your professors are not hiding behind lecterns. They want you to drop by after class—for advice, to look over your résumé, to help you gain hands-on skills, to connect you with unexpected opportunities. Leticia Perez’s professors connected her with unique research opportunities right on campus, like studying the memory of sea slugs. Not only did she gain real-world experience, but also a competitive advantage that made her resume stand out when she applied for veterinary school. Today, she's achieved her dream and works as a veterinarian in the Chicago suburbs.

Christian Cuello’s senior year at Dominican wrapped up with a meaningful career within his grasp. A mock interview during a Career Development course led to a sales internship with technology giant CDW. And a final meeting with his manager had the best outcome Christian could imagine: a job offer. A business management major, Christian plans to rejoin CDW as a full-time small business account representative when he completes his degree. "Without Dominican, I wouldn't have found this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he says. "All of my professors have guided me on the right path and helped me start my career."

As a student at Dominican, Carlos Benitez was able to engage in critical questions about equity, liberation and justice both in the classroom as well as through campus involvement, including his job at the Center for Cultural Liberation. It's this 360 degree experience that prepared him to pursue a PhD program in community psychology. "I'm really thankful because it's prepared me to hold service and social justice close to my heart. Those are Dominican values and they are exactly what I plan to do with my life."

At Dominican, Bernadette Nowacki not only found her calling, but also mastered the skills to succeed in it. “My clinical instructors at Dominican were outstanding,” she explains. They demanded precision in technical preparation while emphasizing the importance of communication, cultural sensitivity and empathy, she says. And they inspired her to help shape the future of health care. Today, Bernie, as she’s known to her friends and patients, is on a path to becoming an ER nurse in Chicago and, ultimately, a clinical instructor herself.

When Anusha Mody decided to study engineering, her mom googled NASA, pinned all the job opportunities to a wall and said, “You’ll work here someday.” Between her junior and senior years, Anusha was accepted into the NASA L’SPACE Academy summer program, where she led a team in a design challenge to develop a mission proposal for landing a rover on Mars. They even presented their project to a NASA panel. Today, Anusha is a systems engineer associate for Lockheed Martin at their Texas facility that produces the F-35 stealth combat aircraft. And she’s still got a plan for proving her mom right. “Eventually, I would love to be a project manager in the space industry,” she says.

After switching his major to fashion design and merchandising, Joshua Ocampo realized his previous background in math and calculus would be instrumental to his success in his new passion. He enjoyed the analytical requirements of design and found his math skills to be beneficial for precise measuring. Under the guidance of a faculty mentor, he created costumes for the Goodman Theatre’s production of The Music Man. “I sat in the audience on opening night and saw the garments on stage that I had spent five weeks bringing to life,” he says. “I couldn’t stop smiling—it was just the best feeling ever.” Now, he’s one step closer to his dream of working in couture fashion.