Senior shares triple-major, international experiences
Josette Pinto tells how her experience opened endless possibilities for future.
Josette Pinto has truly maximized her four years at the University of Kansas. The senior is triple-majoring in supply chain management, international business, and East Asian languages and cultures with a focus on Korean studies.
Despite growing up just 30 minutes outside of Lawrence in Overland Park, Kansas, Pinto’s college journey has not been short of worldly experiences. Pinto has studied Korean language for 10 years and always knew she wanted to study abroad and gain international business experience. She says the opportunities to do so at KU are what drew her to the School of Business and the programs she is now a part of.
Her first international experience began in summer 2022. She completed an eight-week internship at the Korean Road Association and gained experience translating documents, connecting with foreign delegates and composing news articles for the company.
Following her internship, she dove straight into a semester abroad as a foreign exchange student at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. She worked with the School of Business’ Global Business Studies (GBS) and advisors to coordinate her study abroad program and seamlessly transfer her classes. She enjoyed most that she was able to take the core business classes that she needs from KU while gaining a global perspective that will stick with her forever.
“Business is always international. It is so easy with the help from GBS to plan your perfect study abroad, and the transfer credits will be so easy to get,” Pinto said.
Throughout her semester in South Korea, Pinto made memories that will last a lifetime and was able to be fully immersed in the culture. She says the most valuable part of her time abroad was going out of her comfort zone to understand what it is like to truly be a foreigner and making connections with other students doing the same thing.
“All of my friends came from different parts of the world, from Germany and the Netherlands to Saudi Arabia and Australia,” Pinto said. “The shared experience of staying for an extended time in a foreign country exposes you to new ideas and realizations about yourself and others.”
After returning from her trip in the spring of 2023, Pinto found comfort in classes like IBUS 480 International Business and IBUS 462 Comparative and Cross-Cultural Management with Dan Galindau, associate area director in the Marketing and Business Law academic area, and says his stories of working and living abroad helped her navigate the reverse culture shock she felt.
“Being in Dan’s class and getting to hear his stories of interacting with other cultures and coming back and transitioning was really, really helpful because I felt very seen and understood,” Pinto said.
Through her classes, she then learned about the two-week Leading Global Supply Chains in Northern Europe study abroad trip and knew she needed to be a part of it.
The program, led by Joe Walden, associate teaching professor of supply chain management, and Ken Ward, associate teaching professor of management, gave her even more perspective of supply chain management in the global market. The trip brought Pinto to cities in the Netherlands and Germany where she saw things like the largest deep seaport in all of Europe and even local startups and companies working in supply chain management, while also receiving three credit hours through the business school.
“That trip opened my eyes to what really is out there, it’s so versatile and there are so many different directions you can go with it,” Pinto said.
Study abroad trips and programs allow students to grow and apply real-world experiences inside and outside of the classroom. Walden recognized how students like Pinto help enrich these programs.
“Josette is energetic, has a personality that lights up the room and is very enthusiastic about learning,” Walden said. “She is one of those students that makes teaching enjoyable. Her knowledge about international studies and cultures made her an excellent person to have on the Northern Europe study abroad program.”
Outside of her studies at the School of Business, Pinto is a member of Delta Sigma Pi, KU’s business fraternity, where she served as their first diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) chair. She is also a part of the University Honors Program and a member of KU Karisma, the school’s K-pop dance club.
Pinto says the connections and memories she made through her four years at KU are what she will carry with her after graduation in May. One of her fondest memories comes from her time as a student worker for the KU Athletics development team at a football game during the last season before the original David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium was torn down.
“I was standing on the field watching the national anthem and the Alma Mater, and I started crying because seeing everyone joining together in the stadium was so powerful and beautiful,” she said.
Pinto says she will hold that core memory close long after her years at KU.
As Pinto wraps up her time at the University of Kansas, she doesn’t know where her skills and experience will lead her, whether it is full-time employment in South Korea, or maybe even law school at KU, but she says the business school has given her a newfound confidence and preparedness in her ability to find a career after graduation this May.
“We are so lucky as business students, because even if you don’t know exactly the path you’re going to take, you know that you have the tools and the steps to get you there.”
By Lauryn Zebrowski
