Vaughn Rodriguez - NMU Blog

I decided to come to Northern after my best friend at the time showed me a picture of the campus and Marquette as a whole. I was sold almost instantly. When I moved here I had only ever been to Marquette for orientation. I pretty much just dove in head first and never looked back.

I decided on my major and minor after studying General Business for my first 3 semesters of college. I was taking a lot of Gen Eds and trying to graduate as fast as I could but I was never passionate about what I was doing. It wasn’t till I caught wind of the Public Relations program that I realized I could still go into business without having to do the things I didn’t want to do. Like accounting. At that same time I was taking an Intro to Marketing course with Heejung Park and that definitely sold me on the idea of tacking on a Marketing minor.

A cool thing that I have done as a part of my major has been working on analyzing the public relations and marketing efforts of local businesses and organizations. I feel like that has definitely given a more hands-on feel to what I’m studying as opposed to just bookwork.

As of last year, I have been involved in running the South Superior Climbing Club. A rock-climbing student organization here at Northern. That has been a great experience as I became an avid rock climber after moving here in 2019. I also just recently started working at Invent@NMU, which has definitely helped me further my understanding of public relations and marketing. It’s also just been a great way to meet professionals in the field I am trying to tap into.

As of right now, I don’t have an exact plan after graduation. I think before I join corporate America I want to get some travel experience under my belt. I think It’s necessary to see more places, do more things and live more life before I settle at 22 years old. It would be a dream to work remotely for a marketing firm while traveling in my car or as cliche as it sounds, a van. I always try to plan too much and things always change far more than expected. Who knows where I will end up... that’s kind of keeping it fun

My advice for someone considering NMU is to just get up here. Go on a hike, go to one of the iconic restaurants, jump in the lake, check out downtown and then try to tell me you aren’t absolutely infatuated with this place. I would be willing to bet that not many people could say they weren’t instantly in love. However, on the opposite side of that, I would say “hey, you aren’t afraid of a little snow and some fairly cold temperatures right?” If they answer “no” then I’d say “alright friend, you’re gonna do just fine!”

Overall, my time at NMU has been some of the greatest of my life. NMU has opened so many doors for me whether it’s getting a job Kayak Guiding at Pictured Rocks or finding my favorite sport. Since I arrived, I have met like-minded people, picked up new hobbies, seen extraordinary things, and have experienced life in a different way than I ever knew was possible. It’s hard to realize the magic of this place until you try to make a plan to leave. NMU is a wonderful place to find the beauty of nature and yourself.