UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Madison Mendez is serious about Penn State’s signature phrase, “We Are ... Penn State.”
As a first-generation college student from Orlando, Florida, Mendez, a third-year student studying photography, knew that embracing that phrase would be important to her success at the University.
“I knew I was going to have to build my community from the ground up,” Mendez said.
She found the “we” through her clubs and classes, Mendez said, and the people she’s connected with and lessons she’s learned will stick with her after she graduates in fall 2024.
As an upperclassman, she said she now strives to help other students build their own communities and to experience what “We Are” means.
“Students at Penn State are just so happy to make friends,” Mendez said. “I believe they really want to help other people succeed.”
BLUEprint is one group that Mendez said helped her acclimate to Penn State by connecting her with like-minded people. The peer mentoring program aids first-year and transfer students of color in bonding with upperclassmen and finding resources for success.
“It might be small, but there is a community here for people who look and think the same way you do,” she said.
Mendez was a mentee of the program during her freshman year. Now, she mentors others, helping students to find academic, cultural, personal and professional resources and engagement opportunities.
“Knowing that there are 10, 20, 30 people that have your back, that can relate to you, it’s a feeling that I don’t know if I can describe,” Mendez said. “You have your family away from your family.”
She said she feels the same about her involvement in the group SoVA BIPOC (School of Visual Arts Black, Indigenous and People of Color).
SoVA BIPOC was founded in 2022. Mendez acted as the secretary during the club’s inception and now volunteers as a general member.
As part of the hard work it took to make the club an official campus organization in the spring of 2023, Mendez recalled staying up all night to help write the club’s constitution because she wanted the language to perfectly reflect the founding member’s goals.
“I wanted to make sure there was a community here for people that think and look the same way that I do so they felt like they belong,” Mendez said.
In addition to her work with the two organizations, Mendez typically takes 18 credits per semester and writes for Her Campus at Penn State, an online magazine written by and for college women. She also runs her own photography business, Madison Mendez Photography.
While she is working toward a degree in professional photography, she also plans to double minor in media studies and entrepreneurship and innovation. She said she focuses her business on product photography, which pairs her passion for photography with her interests in advertising.
She works with other Penn State students who run businesses on campus to update their websites, take photos of their products and help them compile advertising material.
“My goal is to help other people succeed in their business,” Mendez said.
She utilizes the SOVA digital photo lab in the Borland Building in order to produce professional-level pictures for her clients.
“It’s very nice and professional, a lot of amazing lights and tools,” Mendez said of the resources and equipment Penn State has to offer.
Mendez said her business is a steppingstone for what she plans to do after graduation.
“It’s teaching me to be responsible, have time management, just all of those skills,” Mendez said of her business.
Her main goal is to attend graduate school in England and then do freelance photography, but wherever she ends up, Mendez said she will always count on photography to bring her joy.
“Photography to me is my happiness,” Mendez said. “Having my camera and just going wherever I want, taking pictures of what I want, to me that’s freedom.”