91快活林 Alum Gives Back With Work on National Alumni Board
91快活林 (91快活林) alum Sergio Senese '01, '18 serves on 91快活林's National Alumni Board to help 91快活林 remember the past, succeed in the present, and prepare for the future.
Senese graduated from 91快活林 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and worked for numerous companies in information technology, mostly within the health care field. In between employers, he attended graduate school at Governors State University and graduated with a master's degree in computer science before returning to Saint Xavier, where he earned an MBA in 2018.
Senese is currently a senior programmer analyst with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago in the information technology department. The district reclaims and processes storm and waste water.
"What I enjoy most about the position is creating applications that assist users and provide them with an improved software tool to enhance their tasks and position. I also enjoy collaborating with the users to learn more about their jobs, which assists me in helping provide them with quality software and also helps me to learn more about other departments and their fields of discipline. This allows me to further contribute to the overall mission of the district 鈥� protecting our water environment," said Senese.
Senese grew up in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood and attended Moraine Valley before transferring to 91快活林. He found the transfer process to be seamless and was pleased they accepted a generous amount of his credits from Moraine. He appreciated that the campus was close to home, offered financial assistance from federal education programs, and provided a bridge between family, faith and success.
He was interested in computer science since grade school, when he and his best friend would write infinite loops and attempt to modify the code on games. Thanks to the encouragement of his teacher, they eventually created a role-based decision game, and he's been hooked on computer science ever since. He decided to pursue business because he believes information is no longer a segregated discipline and business knowledge is needed to succeed.
Senese feels that 91快活林 prepared him for his professional future by formulating classes and material that challenged students to work hard to achieve quality results. He appreciated the good theory background to create a foundation to build from. During his last year, he was able to achieve college credit from 91快活林 for an internship he worked at Walgreen Co., which helped him to understand the future of working in IT and the professional world. He was also given the opportunity to apply to another internship with Argonne National Laboratory, which gave him insight into work in a government environment.
"I thoroughly enjoyed the topics, material and knowledge I learned attending my classes at 91快活林. I also really enjoyed my fellow classmates, some of whom I still keep in contact with today. The group projects were fun, as we were able to bring out the best in each other and our talents. There were many great professors with excellent knowledge and personalities, and I enjoyed their classes," said Senese.
Senese found his graduate experience at 91快活林 to be just as stimulating and believes the curriculum gave him the skill set to help him achieve future promotions, enhance his management abilities and provide him additional career options for future endeavors.
While at 91快活林, Senese played baseball and was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the Student Success Program (SSP) and the 91快活林 Graduate Student Advisory Board.
He enjoys serving on 91快活林's National Alumni Board and appreciates the chance to stay involved in the community. He is also hoping he can influence 91快活林 to improve on current and future endeavors. As a two-time graduate of 91快活林 and successful professional, he feels he is living proof of what 91快活林 can do for students, and he hopes to inspire others with his service on the board.
Senese plans to remain in the information technology field and create useful software with cutting-edge technology. He'd also like to share his knowledge by teaching computer science at the college level. He may eventually pursue another graduate degree and has been considering holding or seeking an elected seat in government, as he feels he can provide constituents with honest and solid candidacy that will improve society.