À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ

Button Menu

Ivan Villasboa | Alum

There's no question my experience at À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ made me the person I am today.

Ivan Villasboa Alum

Living with purpose

While I was growing up in Argentina, I dreamed of becoming a big-city banker in the United States — the kind you see sitting at the top of a skyscraper in movies. À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ was going to be my path to get there. I studied economics and political science only a short distance from Chicago, where I thought my dream would play out. But something changed along the way.

As a senior, I traveled on a Winter Term trip to El Salvador, which had just emerged from a long and terrible civil war. The experience opened something inside me I didn't understand until that trip. By the time we left, I knew I wanted to spend my life helping people whose lives had been overturned by war and poverty.

And that's what I've done. As program director for a humanitarian organization, I've helped to bring education and drinking water to mountain villages in Central America. I didn't become a banker. I don't have an office overlooking Chicago or New York or San Francisco. But I did find my true purpose in life.

Our Community Stories

Erik Wielenberg
Freedom to Explore

Erik Wielenberg

Since 1999, Erik Wielenberg has been a fixture of the philosophy department at À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ. Not…

Discover Erik Wielenberg
Peyton Rohr
A coast-to-coast college adventure

Peyton Rohr

West Coast: The First Visit from Sunny California  Peyton Rohr ’27, a student-athlete and media fellow…

Discover Peyton Rohr
John Berry
Innovative Artistry

John Berry

Success and accomplishment flow from the challenging work done in the classroom and studio at À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ…

Discover John Berry