Frank Jones, Jr. ’21

Frank Jones, Jr., a film and media graduate now living in Chicago, said he spends his days “capturing as much media as I can.”

He’s currently working in marketing and communication for the Chicago Semester, which provides a study opportunity in the city for Calvin students as well as those from more than 20 other colleges and universities.

Jones works with current and prospective Chicago Semester students, checking on their applications, taking photos at community events they attend, and working with student bloggers who submit content. Another big part of his job is posting on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, monitoring website traffic, and editing material for the Chicago Semester website.

Before starting that full-time job, he had done an internship in Chicago with Chicago Filmmakers, a nonprofit geared toward helping local artists and filmmakers thrive. He got a chance to use some of the marketing skills he learned at Calvin, while also critiquing films and seeking out artists to see if they’d like to be involved in the different projects the group had going on.

He said the things he learned at Calvin – through both the classes in his major and general ed courses – get used on a daily basis.

From mastering technical skills like Adobe Creative Suite, to marketing concepts, networking, and even how to handle finances, “Calvin gave me a little bit of everything in every category,” he said.

“I would say that Calvin did a great job at preparing us for the next level. A lot of those classes we had were very intentional, with real world applications.”