James’ Journey

Why Grinnell?

I attended a small private school from junior pre-kindergarten to senior year. I spent a total of 16 years there and graduated with friends I had known for over a dozen years. My graduating class had about 70 students.

The academic rigor of my school prepared me well for Grinnell’s workload. My teachers had prepared me extremely well for the writing-heavy classes that I have taken at Grinnell.

Also, I was used to the student-athlete lifestyle that I have at Grinnell. I participated in cross country, swimming, and track and field in high school, so I was accustomed to balancing challenging academics with my athletics year-round. I loved to run and swim in high school and chose to pursue running in college.

I knew I would be overwhelmed at a larger college because of my personality and how small my high school was. I looked forward to a college experience where I had a relationship with my professors instead of just being a lecture listener and test taker. I hoped for a college experience where I could challenge myself in the classroom and contribute to building a competitive distance running program.

I looked at several small liberal arts colleges through the scope of running because I also knew I wanted to run at the college level. Almost all of the colleges I looked at were on the East Coast, but I knew about Grinnell and had an interest in it because my brother, Daniel Snyder ’22, attended.

I did the recruiting dance with several colleges, like Grinnell, but what stuck out about Grinnell was the great people and the possibility of making it my own. Daniel’s Grinnell friends visited our house the summer before my senior year, so meeting them was very informative. I saw the genuine relationships that Daniel made, and I really wanted that when I visited campus and throughout my recruitment process.

Grinnell felt like a place where I could grow as a student, athlete, and artist. As the competitive younger brother, I always thought, “I’ll go somewhere better than Daniel,” but when it came down to it, Grinnell was the best place for me. 

I’m very glad I chose Grinnell.

First-Year Experiences

I arrived on campus a few days before New Student Orientation (NSO) to participate in the cross country preseason. That was fun because I got to bond with my teammates and got a headstart on finding my way around campus and town.

Tutorial and Classes

I also wanted to do well in my classes and enjoy the material I was learning. I jumped excitedly into my four classes: my First-Year Tutorial, Medicinal De$ign, and three intro classes. Though they were challenging, I enjoyed those classes and did my best.

I loved my tutorial, which springboarded me toward my career in marketing. My tutorial examined how pharmaceuticals and vaccines are developed, marketed, and regulated. We examined how the industry markets its drugs to consumers and to medical professionals who prescribe them. I researched the smoking cessation drug Chantix and analyzed its 2019 Cold Turkey marketing campaign, which featured an animated turkey. I also analyzed the financial impact of the social media ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on ALS treatment research. 

My other three classes were the introductory classes in anthropology, studio art, and political science. I must’ve known what I was doing more than I realized I did during that first registration cycle because I ended up majoring in anthropology and studio art.

New Friends and Teammates

The moment I stepped on campus as a first-year student, I was surrounded by my future best friends on the cross country team. I got to have a group right away, which was helpful for me. 

In the fall and winter back home, I enjoy deer hunting, and due to Grinnell’s location and my status as a full-time college student, I have gotten the opportunity to hunt some very large white-tailed deer in Iowa.

I really enjoyed the novelty of living in the Midwest during my first year. The new weather, friends, and challenges made the time fly by.

Creating Community

I also serve as a leader for Gateway, the interdenominational Christian Organization on campus. This group started off campus during my first year, but by my second year, we applied for organization status and became an official club at Grinnell. I have met so many neat people and built several deep, Christ-centered relationships in that group. I will be forever grateful to those friends.

Cross Country and Track

My time as a student-athlete has been an incredibly large part of my education. I have learned how to work through challenges and dedicate myself to a goal, even when there is no guarantee that it will work out in the end. I have learned teamwork, leadership, and flexibility. I also got to travel to California and Texas, as well as colleges in the Midwest, for cross country and track meets.

Internships and Jobs

Communications Work at Grinnell

In high school, I was the graphic designer for the athletic department’s social media. I was offered the opportunity to continue this work in a similar fashion as the communications specialist for Grinnell’s cross country and track and field programs. I produce graphics for our social media, create newsletters for recruiting and alumni engagement, and design banners, posters, cards, and more.

Agency Work in North Carolina

My interest in marketing and my experiences in graphic design led me to work in a full-service marketing agency, Wildfire, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, during the summer after my second year at Grinnell. 

At Wildfire, I was a paid media intern. I created and presented a paid media plan to our client, focusing on USP identification, target audience segmentation, and copywriting to increase the number of qualified leads. I also worked on the strategy team for clients across the food, hospitality, and automotive repair industries. I presented capstone research on the synergy between paid and organic media, using case studies on Liquid Death, Hoka, and Men’s Care Line: W.

Interlochen Center for the Arts

Last summer, before I started my senior year, I worked as the digital media coordinator at The Interlochen Center for the Arts. 

I was able to accept this low-pay internship thanks to support from Grinnell’s Center for Careers, Life, and Service (CLS) summer internship funding. 

In this role, I directed a team of six photographers with a range of experiences, from seasoned professionals with decades of work to college students currently studying photography. My photographers shot and edited over 32,000 photos, and I reviewed, sorted, and uploaded each one to Interlochen’s portal for family, friends, and cross-departmental use. 

I learned what it was like to lead a team in a professional setting. It was a much different type of leadership than serving as a team captain. I was in control of each photographer’s workload and holding them accountable when needed. I led department meetings twice a week and had weekly one-on-one check-ins with each photographer. I got valuable experience handling conflicts, giving constructive criticism, and balancing multiple busy schedules.

Along with organizing the media portal, I directed cabin group photos and merchandise shoots using campers as models to create assets for online and print ad campaigns. I chose this role because I am interested in pursuing a career in marketing and advertising, and I wanted to gain experience in a nonprofit setting after working in an agency the summer before. I am extremely proud of the work I did and the positive impact my team’s work made. 

When I wasn’t in the office, I was outside! I dedicated a lot of my free time to running some of the beautiful trails that northwest Michigan has to offer. I also explored Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and completed the massive dune climb along the Pierce Stocking Drive. When I wasn’t running or hiking, I enjoyed the lakeside beaches and excellent summer climate.

Friends and Fun

Exploring the town with the other first-year students on the cross country team was a blast. I love all the activities we do as a team. Sharing the team dinners, hundreds of miles, bitter losses and disappointments, and incredibly joyful successes, are what make those guys my best friends. That bond is something I will always remember.

Hopes and Plans for the Future

Now that I’m a senior, I’m hoping for many more miles of healthy running and some more victories. I look forward to more learning and creative classes. 

I have mixed emotions about graduating. I’m excited for the future but sad to be ending this wonderful chapter in my life. I am so glad I spent four years studying here and growing as an individual. I built some great friendships and studied hard and now I’m ready to spread my wings and see what I can do. I love the town of Grinnell and would love to return here in a professional capacity at some point.