Meet Class of 2016 Valedictorian Silvia Bezzi

John Cabot University’s Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs Mary Merva is pleased to announce the Valedictorian for the Class of 2016, Silvia Bezzi.

Before transferring to JCU to study Communications, Silvia, who is from Castel San Pietro Terme near Bologna, Italy, attended the University of Bologna and the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

Experience at JCU

Silvia Bezzi

Silvia Bezzi

“I came to JCU because I was really impressed by the Communications program and the international student body. I became confident that my creative drive and passion for words would pave the way for a professional career. However, I have also come to understand that much of what I’d like to communicate in the future, whether it’s inspiring people for social change or persuading managers to revolutionize their approach to employees, will inevitably deal with a pragmatic world of business, advertising, and money. This led me to add a minor in Business Administration to my degree. Despite the difficulty of making such different fields coexist, I am glad I stuck to that decision, as it gave me a deep understanding of the business world I aspire at influencing,” explains Silvia.

Future Plans
Silvia is currently looking at Master’s programs in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver) for Art Direction and Creative Advertising. “I hope to work in the creative industries by merging technical, creative skills with practical business skills and strategic thinking,” says Silvia.

What Silvia’s Professors Say
Communications professor Antonio Lopez: “Silvia is one of the first students I’ve had who wrote a paper that I thought had a legitimate shot at getting published in an academic journal. She has surmounted incredible challenges to achieve what she has done, and it is because she has the will of an army to achieve her goals. She performed like a pro with all her assignments, and by pro I’m not being hyperbolic. She’s not a showoff, so very few people probably know what a talent she is. I have no doubt that she’ll move mountains wherever she goes. My only hope is that she applies her wonderful talents to the environmental issues she cares about.”

Communications professor Peter Sarram: “More than anything what is striking about Silvia’s growth into the scholar she has become during the last three years, apart from her dedication, passion, and resilience, is the way in which her work so clearly reflects both a critical understanding of the world and an active intervention in it. Silvia’s approach to her studies has always been one marked by genuine interest and the ambition to go beyond what’s on the page. She embodies all of the commitment of media studies: the care for the visual, the critical perspective, and the ethical tension. I mean, who does a presentation on Ralph Miliband and actually manages to make it interesting and engaging?”

Congratulations to Silvia from the entire John Cabot University community!