Kathryn (GEOG ’11, ’12) and Lauren Prociv (MKTG ’10, ’12), VT graduates shared their stories of how they found what they were passionate about and they majored in it.

Lauren began her search for a career thinking she wanted to be an engineer due to her love for inventing things and coming up with extravagant ideas. It wasn’t until she headed down the business path that she realized she had fallen in love with marketing. It was during her Marketing 3104 course that it clicked and she was right where she needed to be. Lauren said, “It wasn’t so rigid or so strict and exactly what I didn’t realize I wanted, so I loved it right away”. Consumer behavior was the exact area of focus for her. She was really intrigued with the idea of being able to dissect a consumer’s decisions and find out why they do what they do.

Kathryn’s story is a little different but still shows the same eagerness for learning and exploring what the world has to offer. At just six years old, while accidently getting stuck in a tornado, Kathryn decided that she wanted to be a meteorologist, no matter what. She said that it was a little tough being at Virginia Tech after realizing there was no meteorology department, but she knew this was something she could change. In just 4 weeks she went through four different majors, to see what she could do to get closer to the major of her dreams. After meeting with the geography department head, they got working to made Kathryn’s dream a reality. She was so thrilled to have been a part of making this department and making her vision come true! She said, “The meteorology degree didn’t exist when I came to tech, but I always knew I was going to be a meteorologist no matter what it took because I was determined to make that happen. But really, the best part is that I didn’t just make it happen for myself, I made it happen for all of the other students who shared my passion”.

Since graduating, Lauren has spent her time with The Martin Agency. She first stumbled across them on a PRISM field trip. Lauren said “If I hadn’t gone on that field trip, I wouldn’t be where I am today”. After talking with this agency, Lauren decided that advertising was what she was looking for. It had just enough emotion, humor, art, and strategy that she wanted to be working with. So, she packed her bags and drove off to Richmond and within ten days had begun her journey with them. When I asked Lauren what made her so confident in taking this risk she told me, “The butterflies in my stomach told me to go and do that, and I jumped off that cliff and today I’m still learning how to fly”. She’s spent her time moving around the agency going though 3 different departments within 10 months but today she is exactly where she wants to be. She explained that it is so important to always be interesting and interested, to quote a fellow Hokie and mentor, as she was and always is.

Kathryn finished up her time at Virginia Tech, one year shy of graduating with a meteorology degree (it was accredited for 2012 undergraduates), which was a big deal since it was still so new. She applied for a couple of jobs at different places, some including government positions but she said, “I wasn’t feeling it because it wasn’t purely weather”. As she continued to search for a position she loved, she saw an opening in Atlanta, Georgia for a Weather Producer position. She said that she felt so unqualified and the job felt so out of reach but there was one bullet point in the job description that made her apply anyway. The bullet point was, “Knows and loves weather”, based on this one sentence, she knew that she had to apply. Two months later, after feeling a little discouraged, she received a call from the weather channel. They said that her resume had crossed their path and it was so different that they wanted to take a chance on her. So, she packed up her SUV and headed to Georgia to start her weather loving career. Kathryn said that today she is so happy and so in love with her position. When I asked her to describe her position she put it as, “I am in the simplest fact, a story teller. I need to keep the weather interesting so that people keep watching”.

Together these sisters have made an impact on Virginia Tech and on the world around us! Lauren being a founding member of PRISM has taught us to “Always stay hungry”, find what you love and go hunt for it. Kathryn, who helped found the meteorology department as well as the meteorology club has taught us to “Work hard, but be kind at the same time, respect is earned through actions. Go through life and earn your respect that way”. Both of these sisters can help us see that all of us need to just take our passion and major in it, and if we are able to do that then maybe one day we will be as successful as these two. 

sisters

Written by Alana Clark