{"id":13231,"date":"2020-04-03T07:38:35","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=13231"},"modified":"2022-03-21T16:19:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T20:19:11","slug":"venture-for-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/venture-for-america\/","title":{"rendered":"K Senior Receives Venture for America Fellowship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Venture
Rosella LoChirco ’20 walks through El Retiro Park in Madrid, Spain, where she studied abroad. LoChirco has earned a Venture for America Fellowship.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a few short months, K senior Rosella LoChirco will begin a two-year commitment as a Venture for America Fellow. The prestigious fellowship prepares recent college graduates for careers as entrepreneurs, and fellows are placed in ambitious start-up businesses across the U.S. In April, Rosella will be matched with companies that are a good fit for her interdisciplinary skills, and she\u2019s excited to begin the process of picking her fellowship site.<\/p>\n

Rosella began her K experience like many other students: excited and more than a little nervous for what the future might bring. As the first student in her family to attend college, Rosella said, \u201cIt was so terrifying to sit in my first class \u2014 I didn\u2019t know if I would fit in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosella found her way. Participation on the women\u2019s soccer team<\/a> benefited her with teammates and a coach, Bryan Goyings, who she said \u201creally believed in me, and really supported me no matter what.\u201d Early in her first year, Rosella developed a mentorship with Professor Chris Latiolais, who supported her philosophy major<\/a> without reservation. \u201cEvery day that I come to class, he tells me about a new career that I could do,\u201d Rosella said.<\/p>\n

\"Venture
Rosella LoChirco ’20 (center) poses with mentors Allyson McLean ’05 (right) and Brennan Smith during LoChirco’s Quicken Loans internship.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it was time to select a research subject for her Senior Individualized Project, Rosella was cautious once more, yet she let her instincts guide her. \u201cI loved this one anthropology and sociology professor<\/a>, Professor Katerina Stefatos. I knew I wanted to work with her. We had so many meetings and calls to figure out my topic!\u201d Rosella said.<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, Rosella was completing a summer internship at Quicken Loans and the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup was making headlines. To the student-athlete, it seemed like fate: \u201cI put together a pitch for Quicken Loans about why they should invest in the women\u2019s soccer team,\u201d Rosella said. \u201cI started digging into the question of why women\u2019s sports are not societally valued as much as men\u2019s sports. That became a perfect jumping-off point for my SIP, and all the theories involved from my philosophy background helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Quicken Loans team saw Rosella\u2019s potential; several colleagues, including a K alum, were well-connected to Venture for America. \u201cThey said, \u2018if you\u2019re up for learning things and a team environment, you should make this two-year commitment,\u2019\u201d Rosella remembered. \u201cThey really encouraged me to do it, because I had never heard anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once she learned more, Rosella knew she had to apply. \u201cI\u2019m a liberal arts student who didn\u2019t study anything too technical, so I loved the idea that an organization was really valuing someone like me to make an impact in a start-up from day one.\u201d Now, when Rosella looks to the future and her two-year fellowship, she is confident. \u201cI see a lot of connections between K and Venture for America,\u201d she explained. \u201cI\u2019m going to a small team, working closely together, and that\u2019s very close to the K experience. I found my way at K, and I\u2019ll bring my same energy to this commitment. I know that I have the skills and tenacity to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a few short months, K senior Rosella LoChirco will begin a two-year commitment as a Venture for America Fellow. The prestigious fellowship prepares recent college graduates for careers as entrepreneurs, and fellows are placed in ambitious start-up businesses across the U.S. In April, Rosella will be matched with companies that are a good fit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":13239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[59,114,29,121],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-13231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","tag-anthropology","tag-philosophy","tag-scholarships","tag-sociology"],"yoast_head":"\r\nVenture for America: Senior Receives Fellowship - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Venture for America fellowship prepares recent graduates for careers as entrepreneurs, and fellows are placed in ambitious start-up businesses.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/venture-for-america\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"K Senior Receives Venture for America Fellowship\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Venture for America fellowship prepares recent graduates for careers as entrepreneurs, and fellows are placed in ambitious start-up businesses.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/venture-for-america\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-03T11:38:35+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-21T20:19:11+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/04\/Venture-for-America-Fellow-1-fb.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren Tompkins\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"K Senior Receives Venture for America Fellowship\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lauren Tompkins\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/venture-for-america\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/venture-for-america\/\",\"name\":\"Venture for America: Senior Receives Fellowship - 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LoChirco has earned a Venture for America Fellowship.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In a few short months, K senior Rosella LoChirco will begin a two-year commitment as a Venture for America Fellow. The prestigious fellowship prepares recent college graduates for careers as entrepreneurs, and fellows are placed in ambitious start-up businesses across the U.S. In April, Rosella will be matched with companies that are a good fit for her interdisciplinary skills, and she\u2019s excited to begin the process of picking her fellowship site.<\/p>\n<p>Rosella began her K experience like many other students: excited and more than a little nervous for what the future might bring. As the first student in her family to attend college, Rosella said, \u201cIt was so terrifying to sit in my first class \u2014 I didn\u2019t know if I would fit in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rosella found her way. Participation on the <a href=\"https:\/\/hornets.kzoo.edu\/sports\/wsoc\/index\">women\u2019s soccer team<\/a> benefited her with teammates and a coach, Bryan Goyings, who she said \u201creally believed in me, and really supported me no matter what.\u201d Early in her first year, Rosella developed a mentorship with Professor Chris Latiolais, who supported her <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/philosophy\/\">philosophy major<\/a> without reservation. \u201cEvery day that I come to class, he tells me about a new career that I could do,\u201d Rosella said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13237\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13237\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13237\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/04\/Venture-for-America-Fellow-2-300x398.jpg\" alt=\"Venture for America Fellow 2\" width=\"300\" height=\"398\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13237\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosella LoChirco ’20 (center) poses with mentors Allyson McLean ’05 (right) and Brennan Smith during LoChirco’s Quicken Loans internship.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When it was time to select a research subject for her Senior Individualized Project, Rosella was cautious once more, yet she let her instincts guide her. \u201cI loved this one <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.kzoo.edu\/anso\/\">anthropology and sociology professor<\/a>, Professor Katerina Stefatos. I knew I wanted to work with her. We had so many meetings and calls to figure out my topic!\u201d Rosella said.<\/p>\n<p>Simultaneously, Rosella was completing a summer internship at Quicken Loans and the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup was making headlines. To the student-athlete, it seemed like fate: \u201cI put together a pitch for Quicken Loans about why they should invest in the women\u2019s soccer team,\u201d Rosella said. \u201cI started digging into the question of why women\u2019s sports are not societally valued as much as men\u2019s sports. That became a perfect jumping-off point for my SIP, and all the theories involved from my philosophy background helped.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Quicken Loans team saw Rosella\u2019s potential; several colleagues, including a K alum, were well-connected to Venture for America. \u201cThey said, \u2018if you\u2019re up for learning things and a team environment, you should make this two-year commitment,\u2019\u201d Rosella remembered. \u201cThey really encouraged me to do it, because I had never heard anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once she learned more, Rosella knew she had to apply. \u201cI\u2019m a liberal arts student who didn\u2019t study anything too technical, so I loved the idea that an organization was really valuing someone like me to make an impact in a start-up from day one.\u201d Now, when Rosella looks to the future and her two-year fellowship, she is confident. \u201cI see a lot of connections between K and Venture for America,\u201d she explained. \u201cI\u2019m going to a small team, working closely together, and that\u2019s very close to the K experience. I found my way at K, and I\u2019ll bring my same energy to this commitment. I know that I have the skills and tenacity to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13231"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13248,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13231\/revisions\/13248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13231"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=13231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}