Even though Penn State’s Homecoming celebrations won’t be in person this year, those who have been nominated to the Homecoming Court still have something to be excited about. For senior Spanish and public relations double major Nina Trach, this means an opportunity to look back on the impact she’s made on the Penn State community over the last few years.
“It's such an honor to be associated with peers who have dedicated their time at Penn State to making sure we can leave Happy Valley better than when we found it,” she said. “As a senior, it's really humbling to look back and feel like I've made an impact, while looking forward and knowing that my commitment to Penn State is lifelong. To me, Student Court feels like the beginning of a new opportunity to continue serving the community that I love and lifting up the Penn Staters that come after me.”
During her time on campus, Trach has definitely kept herself busy. Besides the Schreyer Honors College and the Paterno Fellows Program, she’s also the administrative vice president of Lion Ambassadors, a Bellisario Fellow, and a New York Women in Communications Scholar, and she is involved in Leadership JumpStart and THON.
She’s also had several internship experiences. Her most recent one was this past summer as a remote intern for the National Football League (NFL).
“I worked with a team of interns on a project for NFL Media in LA and also connected with and learned from the Social Responsibility Team at the League Office in Manhattan,” she said. Trach was also a strategic communications intern for the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications for two years. Other internships have included a marketing internship with NSF Health Sciences in Washington, D.C.; a corporate communications internship with Axalta Coating Systems in Philadelphia; and a communications and translation internship with Anera Travel in Granada, Spain, where she spent a semester studying abroad in spring 2019. “I was also on Bellisario’s team that was supposed to travel to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics to report for the Associated Press in September 2020, though they've clearly been postponed due to COVID-19,” she said.
Through her extensive internship experiences and involvement on campus, Trach has decided that following graduation, she wants to work in community relations and social responsibility, specifically in the sports industry. While her ultimate dream is to work within the Olympic Movement, she also wants to help sports organizations give back to the communities they’re a part of.
Part of giving back to different communities is being able to understand them, which is where Trach has been thankful for her experience within the College of the Liberal Arts.
“My liberal arts education has taught me to be curious and prioritize the human side of everything,” she said. “I'm really grateful for a major that gives me the opportunity to communicate with an entirely new community through the power of language and culture. My biggest takeaway, though, is that I've learned through the College of the Liberal Arts that my learning is never truly done. I'm excited that after graduation I can continue asking questions and being a student of any environment.”
Due to the ongoing pandemic, this school year has looked a lot different than in years past. However, Trach has tried to adjust by focusing on the positives.
“I'm doing my best to celebrate the little victories and finding so much comfort in organizations like Lion Ambassadors that have given me a constant sense of community among all the change,” Trach said. “I'm lucky enough to have three hybrid classes and will never take walking to class for granted again.”