Laura Stockum
Laura Stockum
Class Year
’25
Hometown
El Paso, Illinois
Major(s)
Graphic Design
Minor(s)
Social Justice
Through Carthage’s Aspire Program, Laura Stockum ’25 received internships that allow her to gain experience in graphic design. On campus, she’s worked as a member of the Carthage Firebird Video Production Team producing athletic film and as a graphic designer for the Office of Visual and Performing Arts. “I have gained experience working with actual clients since we design for students and professors, and it has set me up with realistic expectations of the working world of graphic design,” she says.
Laura recently started an internship with Kenosha Kingfish, a local baseball team, as their PC director.
Learn about Carthage’s career development program
Favorite class
“I have two favorite courses: Decoding Disney with Professor Danielle Jarvis and Intellectual Foundations with Professor David Gartner. Decoding Disney helped me find the proper words to use when I question companies and corporations in my life. Those same words translate to the government and policies, and I truly appreciate being given vocabulary to back up my thoughts. In Intellectual Foundations, Prof. Gartner taught me how to more thoroughly analyze texts. I had read “The Odyssey” in high school, but reading it with him helped me understand it better. Prof. Gartner has a way of making students lead the conversation in his literature classes, and it helped me look at literature differently.”
Campus involvement
“I am the social media coordinator for DRAFT Graphic Design Group. DRAFT has been a very fun club for me. We have shows and events that we design for, we talk to each other about our work, and we built a small community in which we can be totally honest about how we feel about our designs, assignments, our goals in life, and what we think about graphic design. Being in DRAFT has helped me express myself and develop my skills in graphic design outside of the classroom.”
Golden opportunities
“I got to go to Germany and visit Berlin, Dresden, Nuremberg, and München for a J-Term trip during January of my sophomore year. I met friends who I still have to this day and have a memory that I will hold for a lifetime.”
Best study tip
“Don’t be afraid to try new places to study. It took trial and error for me to find where I study best.”
Best tip for making friends
“Just talk with everyone! Talking with people is a great way to make friends on campus.”
What would your 8-year-old self think of you now?
“I have always been an artist, so graphic design makes sense for me, but I would have never thought I would be going into athletic video production. I didn’t even know that was a thing until spring of freshman year.”