Harper Talks Show 10 - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm

Harper Talks Show 10 — Laurie Turpin-Soderholm (.mp3)

On this month's episode of Harper Talks, Assistant Professor of Communication Arts, Brian Shelton, is joined by Harper's own distinguished alumni and community pillar, Laurie Turpin-Soderholm. Currently acting as Senior Project Manager of Global Access Meetings, Turpin-Soderholm revels about how her time at Harper led to not only her academic success, an alumni of both Georgetown and Northwestern respectively, but also her eventual success in this industry and what led her to it. Join the pair in conversation as they relish in her worldly experiences and how it has all led her back to Harper, where she serves as co-chair to Harper's Alumni Committee as well as her involvement with Harper's Giving Committee. Tune in and learn from how her time at Harper, or her self-proclaimed "launch pad", had led her to where she is today.

Transcript

Harper Talks: The Harper Alumni Podcast
Show 10: Laurie-Turpin-Soderholm — Transcript

[00:00:01.360] - Brian Shelton
Critics of a liberal arts education might ask, what do you do with a degree in theater? If you want one answer to that question, then this episode is for you. I'm Bryan Shelton, and you were listening to Harper Talks, a co-production of Harper College Alumni Relations and Harper Radio. Today on Harper Talks I'm excited to speak with Laurie Turpin-Soderholm Laurie graduated from Conant High School, then Harper College, and moved on to Georgetown and Northwestern. 
[00:00:31.600] - Brian Shelton 
Her distinguished academic career has allowed her to use her creativity on a global stage. As an events and meeting planner, Lori joined me for the Harper Talks podcast over Zoom. Hi Laurie. Thanks for being on Harper talks. How are you today? 
[00:00:46.120] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Hi, Bryan. I'm great. How are you? 
[00:00:48.160] - Brian Shelton 
I am excellent. This is one of the first Harper talks episodes where it's been nice outside. I was talking to Jake Sadoff a couple of weeks ago and it was nice on that episode as well. But before that it's been winter since we started doing this shows. 
[00:01:01.160] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Absolutely. And now it's the exact opposite. 
[00:01:03.370] - Brian Shelton 
So, yeah. Steamy. 
[00:01:05.380] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Yeah. 
[00:01:06.790] - Brian Shelton 
So you've had a long relationship with Harper College and I know that you went to Conant High School here locally. How did you get to Harper College as a student? What brought you there? 
[00:01:17.410] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Oh, that's a great question. Well, my family is so attached to Harper. I mean, I think Harper is in my blood. It's in my DNA. My first, but I think actually my mom started as a student, as a returning student. She was in the theater department, did her degree there. Then she came back for a second degree in fashion design. My dad taught.  My older sister, Robin was a student. She was actually a student trustee. She was very involved. My older sister, Karen, was there for a little while, so it was pretty clear what my life path was going to be. And in fact, I remember at one point my dad promised me that if I went to Harper for two years, I could transfer anywhere I want. And I said, great, you better start saving because I'm going to Northwestern. I'm going somewhere like that. And he was scared, but that's what happened. So, yeah, it was it was clear I was going to Harper and I was thrilled. 
[00:02:10.690] - Brian Shelton 
Oh, that's fantastic. I have the same conversation with my daughter weekly. You're going to Harper no matter what. And then afterwards we'll figure it out. You can go wherever you want. 
[00:02:19.660] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Yeah, exactly. 
[00:02:20.430] - Brian Shelton 
I think I've experienced this a lot with a lot of people I've talked to. Went to Harper. There was some kind of connection there to begin with. Either they had attended an event on campus or they went there is some sort of camp or they knew someone. And I think that's a big deal for recruiting that we don't always talk about. The getting people aware of the place very early in their life so that they have it as top of mind is very important. 
[00:02:43.790] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
I think you're right. And, you know, it's funny that you say that. I remember being in high school. My sister, Robin, was a student. She brought me to a concert in A Building. Believe it or not, it was The Lettermen. So that kind of ages everybody. But I remember just thinking, wow, this place is so cool. I can't wait to be here. Yeah, you're right. I forgot all about that. 
[00:03:06.370] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah, it's a it's a big step. I think I take my daughter to campus all the time because she works with us at the campus radio station. She does a little show. And so she just she just loves being there and she can't wait to be a student. So. Yeah, so and not to not to age you or anything, but when were you at Harper and what were things like then. How is it different? 
[00:03:27.910] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Oh gosh I was at Harper. Nineteen eighty through eighty two. 
[00:03:32.830] - Brian Shelton 
OK 
[00:03:33.970] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Lots more buildings now. My favorite change because I was a theater student at Harper, very involved in theater. My probably my favorite change to Harper is the theater.  Because back then when I was there we used J Building. It was really well known that when you do a show in J building there's no backstage. 
[00:03:56.260] - Brian Shelton 
Right. 
[00:03:56.650] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
And you've got to run around outside behind the building and come back in the other side to enter on the other side of the stage. And it doesn't matter if it's raining or snowing. There were no dressing rooms. There was nothing like that. So, you know, it was kind of roughing it back then. But it was fun. You know, we loved it. We didn't know any better. And now, oh, my gosh, when the new theater building came up and I got to tour it and see the black box theater and oh, my gosh, I just it just seems so luxurious. I love it. 
[00:04:25.810] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah. It's a really nice facility. I just finished working with Kevin Long from theater on. Too heavy for your pocket. 
[00:04:31.810] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Sure. 
[00:04:31.810] - Brian Shelton 
And so we because of covid we couldn't have an audience. So we shot that live in the studio basically as a television show. And it was just so much fun being in the black box every night for rehearsal with the actors. And I told Kevin that I think I've told Laura this is well, that we really should sell tickets to rehearsal because it's so much more interesting to watch the actors develop their process. 
[00:04:51.820] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, you're right. That's a good point. I love that idea. 
[00:04:56.110] - Brian Shelton 
Probably never happen, but yeah. Too hard, so. There's been a lot of construction on campus during that time, I've talked to some people over the years that talked about how students seem to be much more involved in things on campus in the 70s and 80s and early 90s. Did you find that to be the case? 
[00:05:16.810] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
I think I think students were really involved. But I mean, I guess are they now? I mean, I think they probably are. And I say that only because I also read scholarship applications and I get to see what people are thinking and where they're involved and what they're volunteering in. And it really excites me. But certainly back then we were too. And, you know, there were all kinds of things that people got into and there was a lot going on in the world then. There's a lot going on in the world now. 
[00:05:45.750] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah, yeah. 
[00:05:46.500] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
And I think college age is the time when you really get into that. 
[00:05:50.730] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah, I think they're getting involved on campus is so important. There's so many interesting things that you can learn to do and then you might find out that what you were planning on do with your life is is different after you get involved with something. 
[00:06:00.750] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
So absolutely. You know, and like back when I was at Harper, I worked in the film library, which I adored. I worked in the TV studio, which I loved because I was a theater student. So to me, like working in the TV studio was really cool. But yeah, I mean, you get involved in all that stuff. I was a student counselor. Interesting. That never led me to go into that field... 
[00:06:22.950] - Brian Shelton 
Right. 
[00:06:23.700] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
But it got me involved in campus. 
[00:06:25.530] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
So that was that was the point. 
[00:06:26.970] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah. I think the more you're on campus the better myself, but. Yeah, great. Yeah. 
[00:06:31.560] - Brian Shelton 
So I, you know, reading your bio and stuff, I kind of wanted to ask you what I think is an interesting question, but we'll see. There are people and I and I meet people like this all the time, having worked in community colleges for over 20 years. But there are people who say that you can't start at a community college and then go into a top tier school. And I think that your experience really dispels that myth. You know, so I was wondering, how did Harper prepare you for Georgetown and Northwestern, which I think everyone would agree are very much top tier schools. 
[00:07:03.370] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Yeah, it's a great question. I, I remember getting to Georgetown. I was I was terrified. I will tell you, this is funny. This is one way that I prepared and this ages me too. There was a book called The Preppy Handbook at the time, and I read that cover to cover and I made sure I had all my preppy ensemble, my navy blazer and khaki skirt and, you know, all that crazy stuff. And I got there and nobody wore that. So that was fine. But that's I mean, I wasn't sure what I was walking into. And yeah, you know, the student mix was a little bit different for sure, but the courses were not honestly not any harder. I felt completely prepared. I didn't feel like I was flailing or like, oh, God, I can't handle this or anything like that. Absolutely not. I was completely prepared. I think I was set up completely for success at Harper and that continued on with Northwestern as well. 
[00:07:58.110] - Brian Shelton 
That's fantastic. 
[00:07:59.130] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Yeah, yeah. It was just a little, you know, like anybody going away to school. It's just a little adjustment to being in a dorm and being away from home. You know, that that's anywhere anybody has that. But and again, like a little bit different student mix there. But academically, one hundred percent transfer easy. 
[00:08:17.160] - Brian Shelton 
Sure. 
[00:08:18.270] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Yeah. 
[00:08:18.600] - Brian Shelton 
Great. Yeah. So I want to talk to you about your career in a minute, but kind of leading to your career in your education, this might be kind of a weird roundabout question, but I really noticed in the last ten years or so this kind of push back against a liberal arts education. And people ask things like, you know, what can you do with a degree in tuba or theater or communication? And it seems to me your entire career is based on your experience in theater. And I'm curious, how did your educational experience doing that prepare you for your career? 
[00:08:52.830] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
That is a great question. I I really feel like I use my education every single day in my current career, which I shouldn't say current. I've been doing this for twenty five years. I don't see it changing at anytime soon. I have full background in arts, history, theater, all those things. I use them constantly because currently I plan events all over the world. So like here's a really good example, I was doing was in a meeting. I think it was an incentive trip, which means people in a company won a trip. It was an insurance company. They won a trip to Florence, Italy. Incredibly lovely trip. And, you know, I have an appreciation and a great love of art and architecture, in fact, my minor at Georgetown was, well, my major was fine arts. 
[00:09:49.820] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
And then underneath fine arts, I was a theater major and art history minor. So I already have that great love. But I was able to pull in my appreciation and knowledge of literature and art to create a more beautiful event. One evening we were doing a dinner at the home of Dante, and so I pulled in my love of literature again and art and art history. And I created an invitation of using perhaps the most famous 
painting of Dante's Inferno. 
[00:10:27.680] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
And I blended that into the invitation and gave people a little history about Dante and and and Divine Comedy and brought that into their experience of the evening. So I love to do that. I love to bring history of a place or art or architecture into my events. I don't always get to do that, but when I do, I couldn't be happier. So that's that's one way that I use my theater background. And also, just as a speech background, I'm able to get up and speak to people, communicate with people, whether it's, you know, vendors or my my clients. 
[00:11:12.800] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
If I have to get up in front of the group and make announcements, I'm very comfortable doing that. I'm 
happy to do it. And I can really just lead the way. And I think that's really all because of that background. 
[00:11:22.550] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah, a lot of people refer to the public speaking and presentation skills and things like that as soft skills. And I say those are the hard skills. Those are the things that people struggle with the most. And being prepared for that is so important. 
[00:11:35.330] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Yeah, yeah. And I, I'm just so, you know, comfortable doing that. I can just do that in a second. I don't even think about it, you know. 
[00:11:42.440] - Brian Shelton 
That's great. So let's talk about how you got into that. How did you get into planning events. What what do you like to throw parties? Is that how it got started? And how did this career happen for you? 
[00:11:52.820] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Not in the least. It's the craziest thing and I wouldn't change a second of it. So I was back in the theater world here in Chicago. I finished at Northwestern and I. I interned at a theater in the city. I interned at Victory Gardens Theater and moved on to what was it no longer exists. There was something called the International Theater Festival in Chicago. It was a huge event in the city. And we brought in theater companies from all over the world. And that was coming to an end. 
[00:12:25.580] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
And I thought, oh, my gosh, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? You know, plus, you know, in the theater, you don't make a whole lot of money. I mean, I could barely afford to park my car every day in the city, but I was in charge of planning opening night parties for the theater festival, but I had to get every one of them donated. I mean, you know, I had thirteen opening night parties in two weeks, every two years, and I had to get every single thing donated from the venue to the food, the wine, the liquor, any kind of décor or anything. I had to have it donated. So one day I came across this magazine. It was about meetings, meetings and events, and I was just flipping through it and I thought, oh, my gosh, people do this for a living. And they they don't have to beg for everything to be donated. They get to pay for it. And it's a career and they make money. Wow. I've got to look into that. So I was connected with various people through through the theater festival who talk to me and help me get into it. 
[00:13:30.020] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
And someone actually guided me and said, you know, if you really want to do this and you want to be an event planner, I suggest you spend two years being what's called a travel director, which are the people who are contract employees who just go on site and run the event. They don't do any of the planning. They just run it. She said do that for two years, learn it from the ground up. Then you learn everything that goes into making it operate, you know, smoothly and successfully by seeing what to do and what not to do.  
[00:14:01.100] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
I said okay. That sounds fun. A little hard to get into it, but I but I did. I did it for ten years. I was addicted because I got to travel to the greatest places on earth. And, you know, I mean, I think my current account is I don't know. Forty some countries I've had this amazing opportunity to meet the greatest people and have these fantastic experiences. And it's always a little addicting lifestyle. So at my peak, I was traveling two hundred and fifty days a year. 
[00:14:33.470] - Brian Shelton 
Was that was that stressful? Did that. Take a toll on you physically or mentally? 
[00:14:38.920] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Physically, it does take a toll on you when you're when you're doing that much. Absolutely. And when you're flying internationally so much and back and forth in your home a day and now you've got to fly to wherever. And, you know, but it was a really great lifestyle. But eventually you kind of decide, you know what, I can't even join a gym because I'm never home like, so at a certain point you realize it's an addiction, but maybe it's time to get a grown up job and move on and settle down and have your own house and do things like that. But, you know, I guess I mean, I worked on six Olympic Games. So in that course of that time, I felt like I lived in Beijing for five weeks. I lived in Athens for five weeks. I lived on a mountain in Japan for five weeks. 
[00:15:22.180] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
I wouldn't give that up. But now it's time to live somewhere else for more than five weeks. So I managed to get off the road and come in house. And now I plan and I go on site. But it's definitely not that grueling of a schedule as it was. 
[00:15:38.950] - Brian Shelton 
I saw the Olympic events on on your bio and I was hoping you were going to bring those up. What was 
that like? 
[00:15:45.730] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Yeah, there is nothing on this earth like being involved in the Olympics. I will just say that I started with Atlanta. Atlanta had its own challenges because of the bombing and what we went through as a result of the bombing. But being on a mountain in Japan for five weeks, I mean, like, oh my gosh, I learned so much, met these amazing people. But then the Olympic experience and when you're in the middle of all these people from all over the world coming and everyone's excited and they're going to events and, you know, maybe so like a winter event, your Winter Olympics, you actually I feel like you actually have to go into training to to attend some of those events, because if you're going to say a downhill skiing, you have to get up the mountain in order to watch it. 
[00:16:31.930] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
And you're usually climbing. You know things like that. But you're in the middle of all of it and everyone's excited and people are trading pins. You know, that's a huge thing at the Olympics. And you're hoping you're going to meet an athlete, you know, and sometimes you do. It's just a buzz. It's a it's a it's an absolute buzz. Yeah, I, I would do it again every Olympics if I could. 
[00:16:54.970] - Brian Shelton 
Awesome. Anything. Maybe you don't want to talk about things that have gone wrong, but any spectacular failure that's worth the worth talking about? 
[00:17:03.580] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
At an Olympics? 
[00:17:04.240] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah. Or any other event for that matter. 
[00:17:06.880] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Yeah. Well you know what I will say like one of the scariest things that, that I've ever dealt with was certainly the bombing in Atlanta. We were my group was in, you know. Well, I'll say it's a Hyatt downtown in Atlanta. It's a major hotel. And we were just a couple of blocks from the park where the bombing happened. And we had to go room to room and check, check that people were in their guest rooms, that we didn't lose anybody. That was that night. And the next day we had to make two or three bomb calls come into the hotel. We had to evacuate. We were many times just evacuated. And you never knew. And you're getting calls and like, OK, you know, we've got a motorcoach of people heading to wrestling. You know, we just got a call that there's been a bomb scare on the street. So now we have to redirect all the busses and interesting stuff like that. That was Atlanta. We got through it. But it it was it was a scary time. You just didn't know what was a real bomb and what was just a copycat call. 
[00:18:09.850] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah, yeah. I remember that Olympics and there have been a couple of movies out recently about the the bombing. There was the Clint Eastwood film and there was another made for TV piece. It was kind of interesting to go back and look at that because I was very young when that happened. So going back and looking at it through old eyes. 
[00:18:26.480] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then we have other things to, you know, like we would like in Japan. We had a couple of days in a row. The group had to drive three hours to get to a downhill event twice, two days in a row. They get there. There's so much snow that the event has been postponed. Turn around, drive three hours back. Next day, try it again. This is things like that, you know, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? And that's that's the world of events, you know? And we learn to think on our feet, you know, we solve problems. It happens all the time, not to that extent, but, you know, we have problems to solve. That's what we do. 
[00:19:08.100] - Brian Shelton 
That's great. Keep your keep your mind active, that's for sure. 
[00:19:10.990] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Boy it keeps your mind active and. Yeah, yeah. To the point where now I'm just a human being. I'm out in the world. If I see something, I jump in and try to fix it. I can't help myself. One time I saw this huge traffic jam on Michigan Avenue. There was a march going by and I couldn't believe the way it was being conducted. And the traffic up and down Michigan Avenue was ridiculous. And I got out of the car. My mom and I were together. I think we'd probably been at a Bears game or something. And I got out of the car and I went over and I started talking to the cops. I'm like, OK, why don't you can you try it doing this way? Because look at what's happening here. And I'm sure they wanted me to just get in the car and shut up, but I can't help myself. I try to I, I what I see a colossal problem. I try to fix it. 
[00:20:00.510] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah. I'm the same way I do the same thing. Yep. Especially with students so. 
[00:20:04.980] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Oh yeah. 
[00:20:05.760] - Brian Shelton 
So you're very heavily involved in the Harper College Foundation. Can you tell me what you're doing with the Educational Foundation and why you do that. Why, why are you spending your time with us. 
[00:20:15.900] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Oh well I've been on what is what is now called the annual giving committee. Gosh, for a long time I can't even remember when I started. And the name has changed a couple of times, which is why I have to write it down, because I don't always remember the name. And, you know, that's that's great. I love to meet with the team and the group which we called a team. I'm used to a team environment, the committee. And, you know, we work with thanking donors and trying to find new donors and that kind of thing. And then as an offshoot of that, I'm on the alumni committee, which I've been on for a long time. And this year I'm co-chairing that which I love to do because I just love some of the events that we do to try to engage alumni and bring people back to campus or bring people to an event and get people reinvolved at Harper. And I've really had a great time helping with some of the galas. The last one that we did for the fiftieth anniversary was fabulous. I had such a great time and and I was feel like, too, if I can, you know, give some of my professional help where it can be of service and of use, that's great, too. 
[00:21:28.110] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
I love to do that. I just love to help the school, whatever I can. Yeah. And I and I like to read the scholarship applications. I'm on the Distinguished Alumni Committee for that. And we we do give out a scholarship. I just love reading these stories and these you know, so many of these students are just so worthy and I wish we could give it to every single one of them. 
[00:21:51.480] - Brian Shelton 
Right. Right. You know, speaking of scholarship and the foundation, this McKenzie Scott donation of eighteen million dollars to Harper College, I mean, obviously, we don't know exactly how that's going to work yet. You know, it's a it's a new thing. But what was your reaction to that? 
[00:22:06.840] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
I couldn't believe it. I was so excited to be chosen out of, you know, so I mean, so many institutions. My gosh, that is just the greatest honor. I can't even believe it. It's such a huge amount of money. Yeah. I'll be really excited to see what we end up doing with it besides scholarships and things like that. I know that there's talk of some kind of larger funding, but unbelievable. What an honor. My gosh. And everyone at Harper, should you just be so proud. 
[00:22:40.140] - Brian Shelton 
It's a pretty great thing. And I think the people who are not part of the community college system don't understand how much money that is to a community college. You know, if you're Yale or Harvard, you're like, oh, eighteen dollars million, gee thanks. But at a community college, eighteen million dollars is a significant sum of money. 
[00:22:55.170] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
It certainly is. It certainly is. And especially, you know, as the pandemic hit so many students so hard, you know, and I know that we had the the emergency funding for students during the pandemic. They so many of them lost their jobs and they were really hard hit. And we have we have students in real need. And this means everything. 
[00:23:15.750] - Brian Shelton 
Certainly does. Well, I mean, that's going to be really exciting to see what happens with that. I've talked to a lot of people about this. A lot of times when people go to a community college, they then they transfer to whatever university they're going to and they identify themselves as an alumni of that institution. And you went to to, you know, pretty top tier institutions, Georgetown and Northwestern. And I'm sure that you're  involved with them as well. And that's certainly not off your resume. But you're very actively involved with Harper and you make that a big part of your life. And I'm curious what drives you to do that? 
[00:23:52.740] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
You know, that's a really good point, because you're absolutely right. I think a lot of times people transfer and they forget and they just stick with the four year. I do a lot more with Harper than I do with, you know, the other the other two schools, and I think it's really it because it's in my family, you know, we are just a devoted Harper family. In fact, we have a family scholarship that we are so excited about. 
[00:24:20.150] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
And whenever I get to meet the student that that gets our family scholarship, I'm so excited. It's really because it's in our family and it's right here. And and actually, well, Harper was so much a launching pad for me, I never, ever would have done anything, you know, going to either of those other schools had I not gone to Harper. So much of what I am doing in my life right now would not have happened if I hadn't gone to Harper. I absolutely know that. You know, I'm still connected with so many people at the school. Mary Jo Willis was my great theater professor and mentor and still remains a very good friend. She was just here for dinner. You know, there's just so many people at the school that really are just a part of my life. And I can't imagine not helping where I can. 
[00:25:08.390] - Brian Shelton 
We were so happy that you do and so happy that you're involved. I was just going to ask you one one last thing. What advice would you have for either someone who is considering coming, the Harper, or just advice in general for a student who's at Harper and is trying to figure out what to do and what's next? What's what's the what's the life tip that you have. 
[00:25:27.050] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Those are really good really, really good. Well, I would say, first of all, thinking about coming to Harper. Absolutely. Come to Harper, spend their first year or two, you know, get your footings, figure out what it is that really makes you happy and do it in a way that it's not draining you financially. 
[00:25:49.100] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
You know, I think that's a really good draw. The value of Harper can't be overstated. I know so many people who go away to school for one or two years and end up coming back and they've wasted all this time and money. And it's just sad. Just just go come straight to Harper, figure out what you're doing and figure out what you don't like before you go off and do that. And then for current students, I think one of the most important things you can do is get an internship in something you think you like and test it out. 
[00:26:22.880] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
You know, you can find out that, you know, I thought, I want to do this and actually I hate it, you know, or just try things that you've never even thought of. I think that's really, really important. But I think internships are, to me, so valuable and I think everyone should look for one. I did. And it led me to a fantastic career in the theater before I moved on. But it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't had an internship. 
[00:26:50.160] - Brian Shelton 
Yeah, the actual practical experience means so much. And I and I talk to my students about this all the time. I work with so many communication majors and I'm like, your a communication major. You should be working at the campus radio station and you should be working at the campus newspaper in any capacity whatsoever because you while your degree is important, actually knowing how to do something and proving that is much more important. Right. 
[00:27:12.110] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
It's really true. And I think that's what employers look at on a resume. You know, it's one thing if you've studied it, it's another thing if you know how to do it. 
[00:27:19.880] - Brian Shelton 
Show me that you can do it as well. 
[00:27:21.300] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Show me you know, and I don't Brian, I'll give you one other thing that I always think of for students and not everybody can afford it. But if there's any way to afford a study abroad, even for a summer, I think getting outside of the US, getting into other cultures, another country, it doesn't even have to be a  country, where you have to learn another language, go to the UK, go to you know, it's just so important to get out and experience that. 
[00:27:50.960] - Brian Shelton 
I absolutely agree with that. I never had those opportunities when I went to school. And in fact, sometimes when I take students on a on a trip, we'll go to a conference or something like that, and it'll be a student's first time on an airplane. And I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, you know, I'm responsible for you for your first time on the plane, you know, but what a great opportunity for them to have that experience while 
they're still in college. Right. And to not be so afraid to go out into the world later. 
[00:28:14.630] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Absolutely. I think it's it's just critical. The way it opens your eyes is you're not going to get that just staying at home and you can't get that watching videos. 
[00:28:23.180] - Brian Shelton 
Well, I want to thank you so much for being here with us today for Harper Talks. Very enlightening, very inspirational conversation. I'm so glad that you work with our Harper College Foundation and and do the work that you're doing. It's very important. We need more people like you working and supporting the college and supporting our students. And I certainly appreciate you being here. 
[00:28:43.400] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Absolutely. I wish I could donate eighteen million dollars, but we'll try that next time. 
[00:28:48.230] - Brian Shelton 
If you do bring it to the mass communication department. OK, we were we could use your help. 
[00:28:54.770] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Brian, thanks so much for asking me. It was it was it was so much fun chatting with you. I'm reliving my Harper days. It's just always so much fun. 
[00:29:02.090] - Brian Shelton 
Thank you so much. Take care. 
[00:29:03.620] - Laurie Turpin-Soderholm 
Thanks, you too. Take care. 
[00:29:05.270] - Brian Shelton 
Laurie Turpin-Soderholm as a senior project manager for Global Access Meetings and 2015 recipient of the Harper College Distinguished Alumni Award. If you're enjoying Harper talks, please subscribe. And while you're at it rate and review us so that others might find us. Harper Talks is a co-production of Harper College Alumni Relations and Harper Radio. Our show is produced by Shannon Hynes. Our technical producers are Erik Bonilla Sanchez and Mary Renner. 
[00:29:34.100] - Brian Shelton 
Our theme music was created by Aidan Cashman. I'm Brian Shelton. Thanks for listening.