Sebastian Ruccolo
Heider Freshman Scores Two Internships
Some freshmen ease into college life. They settle into communal living and a new academic schedule, tentatively dipping a toe into extracurricular waters. Maybe they join an intramural team. Perhaps they rush second semester.
Not Sebastian Ruccolo. The Littleton, Colorado, freshman has greeted college with gusto. He hasn’t just dived in; he’s done a running cannonball into Creighton life. It’s a “go big or go home” approach, and Ruccolo is NOT going home.
The most rewarding aspect of the experience thus far? The people. “The people here are some of the kindest, smartest and most generous people I have encountered,” Ruccolo says. “My favorite part of being at Creighton is finding myself among amazing people who have inspired me and encouraged me to be more and do more than I ever imagined.”
These include: the Revs. Tom Merkel, SJ and Jeff Sullivan, SJ, from whom he receives spiritual direction; other “amazing Jesuit priests on campus,” with whom he has enjoyed friendships and fellowship; members of his Bible study group; fellow members of the newly-formed Management and Consulting Club, for which he serves as vice president of membership; his Dean’s Fellows cohort; and upper classmen David Roberts and Cole Goeltl, who have been great networking sources as well as friends.
Ruccolo says he is “passionate about making network connections and building relationships.” As a Dean’s Fellow, he has been exposed to successful business professionals and isn’t wasting any opportunity to learn from these meetings.
“I see this time in my life as perfect to learn, fail and increase my resilience, so I am not afraid of putting myself out there,” Ruccolo says.
As a second semester freshman, Ruccolo has already worked two internships and has one teed up for summer. He met John Paul Engel, founder and CEO of Knowledge Capital Consulting, which builds high-growth companies for founders, angel investors and venture capitalists, and was hired as a strategy business consultant and executive recruiter.
Then Engel introduced Ruccolo to Connor McNerney, CEO of Maven Marketing Group, a Chicago-based digital marketing and strategy company. Initially offered an internship for summer 2022, his start date was advanced to January due in large part to what Ruccolo calls “my “persistence and tenacity in learning ways I could bring value to Maven Marketing Group.” He will now report directly to the CEO and potentially lead a team of interns this summer for Maven’s LinkedIn outreach sector.
When Ruccolo shared his interest servicing the greater Omaha community with Dan Feldhacker, associate director of outreach at Heider College of Business, the latter introduced him to CEO of Symphony Workforce, Todd Smith. Symphony Workforce connects businesses and organizations with young people who are pursuing career discovery. Ruccolo is a project consultant for the nonprofit’s Find Your Why! program. It’s a position that has allowed him to loop in fellow Creighton students to serve as mentors, effectively marrying his loves of business, service and networking.
He accomplishes all this on top of an 18-hour course load. Ruccolo intends to double major in marketing and finance, saying that the former caters to his natural curiosity and the latter will help him “understand the nuts and bolts of a company.” He hopes to one day work in the strategic marketing sector of a company.
Until then, Ruccolo will keep testing the waters, both corporate and collegiate, through more internships and activities, and pushing himself beyond what he thinks are his limits.
“It is very humbling to be part of a school that makes successful outcomes possible early on in the life of a student,” Ruccolo says.
