Olivia Statile ’22 (international business & management, Spanish) is a global ambassador, teaching assistant and sports-marketing intern who enjoys skydiving, ceramics, pottery, photography and travel. She discusses her internship, her study-abroad experience, why she chose Dickinson and more.
Hometown:
Simsbury, Connecticut.
Majors:
International business & management and Spanish.
Clubs and organizations:
Delta Nu, Global Ambassador and Department of Athletics (intern).
Honors/scholarships/awards:
John Montgomery Scholarship, Dean’s List (all semesters), Alpha Lambda Delta, Gamma Sigma Alpha, Order of Omega and Sigma Delta Pi.
Favorite book:
101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest.
Favorite movie:
Napoleon Dynamite.
On choosing Dickinson:
I first toured Dickinson as a first-year student in high school, when my sister was looking, and I left knowing that I was going to go here. I really liked the smaller size of the school, because it felt like more of a tight-knit community. I had no idea what I wanted to study at the time, so a liberal-arts education was very appealing, as it provided more freedom to explore and learn a little bit of everything before choosing a major. I also knew that I eventually wanted to travel abroad, so Dickinson’s focus on global education was one of the major factors in my decision.
Favorite place on campus:
Morgan Field.
Favorite professor:
Assistant Professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies Santiago Anria. I took a class with him when everything was online due to COVID-19. Even though the remote learning environment proved to be a challenge for some people, Professor Anria made the experience very enjoyable. He was always very positive and cheered students up, even if we were lacking in motivation or suffering from Zoom fatigue. He expressed a real interest in every student’s life, and he would go around asking each individual person how they were doing prior to starting any class. This made it easy to connect with him and stay engaged throughout the class.
As a kid, I wanted to be …
… a photographer. I went on a National Geographic student expedition to Iceland when I was younger, and we drove around the Golden Circle, learning photography from a professional. It was a really cool experience, and it made me realize my passion for both photography and traveling.
On studying abroad:
I studied in Málaga, Spain, during the spring 2020 semester (my sophomore year). Even though it got cut short due to COVID-19, I really enjoyed living with a host family. My host mom did not speak any English, so it really improved my Spanish-speaking and comprehension skills. She was also really good at cooking, so it was nice to eat a lot of homemade Spanish dishes.
Little-known hobby/talent:
I really like making ceramics and pottery. One day I want to start a little business to sell some of the stuff that I have made. I also really like skydiving, and I hope to eventually get a USPA license to become certified. These are two very different hobbies on completely opposite ends of the spectrum, but they both make me really happy.
If I could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, it would be …
… Alan Watts. I like listening to clips of different speeches he made. I think his way of thinking was extremely unique, and it would be cool to sit down and have a conversation with him.
Proudest accomplishment so far:
My proudest accomplishment is that I am a teaching assistant (TA) for a business class called Managerial Decision-making. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed teaching others until I accepted the position at the start of my junior year. I feel that the role has helped me gain a lot of confidence, especially last year, when I had to lead review sessions by myself in front of up to 40 students at a time (sometimes including people who were older than me). I used to have a lot of social anxiety in class, but being a TA has definitely helped me become more comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people.
About my internship:
I am currently working on campus as an intern for Dickinson athletics’ marketing & administration department. I have been able to help with a lot of different marketing campaigns in order to increase fan engagement for athletic events on campus. I also take photographs at home games for different teams on campus, which has been a lot of fun and a good way for me to incorporate my interest in photography into the internship. Typically, I post my photographs or edit them into graphics that promote events on Dickinson athletics’ social media pages, like Instagram and Facebook. I have learned a lot about marketing sporting events to large audiences and using different giveaways and advertising strategies in order to attract as many fans as possible.
