Marketing major Paige Lorenzo found two unlikely passions here at MSU: advertising and sign language. As a freshman, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to study but started taking drawing and media classes while she figured it out. After an advertising class with Amy Watson, where Paige had to create an advertising campaign for powdered alcohol, she declared a major in marketing. As a graduating senior now, Paige looks back at how she found so many things she loves here at Missouri State.

 

Although the area of study wasn’t settled for the Ozark native, the choice of Missouri State as a school was. It was Paige’s dad’s alma mater; plus, she fell in love with the beautiful campus from a childhood of attending MSU basketball games. It’s also the place where her two sisters, Taylor and Erica (the three of them are triplets), are getting their education in literature and professional writing, respectively. “I remember our first year at MSU, we all took astronomy with Dr. [Mike] Reed. He got a big kick out of seeing us together for the first time, and he worked really hard to successfully tell us apart by the end of the semester,” she says.

 

Paige says getting mistaken for each other comes with the territory. In one instance, when she didn’t respond to someone yelling “Erica,” that person yelled “triplet!” instead, and she turned to see someone waving like a close friend would. Paige loves the fact that she has two best friends to share first days of school, sports and creative pursuits with, but being a triplet has also helped her create a strong individual identity too. The most significant lesson Paige has learned from her sisters is the importance of individuality. Finding a way to stand out and show others she’s her own person has been an empowering experience her whole life.

 

Paige was also able to continue a childhood passion at MSU: sign language. When she was in elementary school, her class learned to sign thirty minutes every day to be able to communicate with a deaf classmate. When Paige realized MSU offered American Sign Language classes, she enrolled in the intro level course and ended up making it her minor. She convinced her sisters to take the classes too, so they could communicate silently with one another. She also joined Sign Club, a student organization for people who want to improve their skills, and became vice president for a year. “I used to get nervous talking in front of people. However, I found that communicating with my hands boosted my confidence and gave me a new way of expressing myself.” Sign language has become such an integral part of Paige’s life that she’s decided to pursue it further after graduation by becoming an interpreter. She hopes that by pairing interpretation with a marketing degree, she can help promote and expand knowledge of deaf communities in bigger cities.

 

While sign language is Paige’s passion, the marketing major has been a perfect fit for her too. One of her fondest memories was this past semester when she created a plansbook for Sherry Cook’s Advanced Advertising class. She was with a group of people she had known before, but became very good friends with after the project—mainly due to a 12 hour creative session that included pizza, Beyonce, and brainstorming ideas for their marketing campaign. “It can be stressful meeting deadlines for these big assignments, but we made it fun.” Paige says she found through this project that accomplishing a big task like this successfully with a group of people she enjoys working with makes the stress all worth it.

 

With marketing and sign language, Paige has a unique career path ahead of her. She’s looking back fondly on the experiences she’s had at Missouri State, but she’s also ready to graduate and start the next chapter of her life. With one of her sisters, Erica, who is also graduating this May, Paige will have one of her best friends to go out into the world with, along with some distinctive skills that will help her succeed at whatever she chooses to do.