When Victoria Erdel Garcia won Purdue University’s version of the Say It In Six competition, which challenges graduate and professional students to sum up their Purdue experience in six words, this was her entry.
“My Purdue classroom has no walls.”
No borders either. That fact was important as Erdel Garcia shopped for a master’s degree program in communication. She has a full-time job as digital marketing manager for the Starfish Project, a nonprofit organization that cares for women escaping human trafficking and exploitation, putting them on a path to renewed lives and new careers. She was based in Asia, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit she had to pivot back to her home in Mishawka, Indiana. She didn’t know when, or even if, she would be returning to Asia.
She decided the answer was the online Master of Science in Communication from Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts and Brian Lamb School of Communication.
“I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go back to Asia any minute now, I needed to have that flexibility to study here or study there,” Erdel Garcia said. “I chose Purdue's program because growing up in Indiana I always knew about Purdue's reputation for being an academically rigorous school. I wanted that challenge.”
Ultimately, she expects to return to Asia for six months to a year and apply knowledge gained in her graduate studies to training trafficking survivors who will eventually take her place at the Starfish Project.
What happens after that may include going full-time with a side gig she’s started, Victorious Communication Coaching LLC, which focuses on teaching communications skills designed for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). That’s one of the things that made her one of only eight students nationally to win a 2022 NBCUniversal Tony Coelho Media Scholarship from the American Association of People with Disabilities. The award recognizes undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities who are interested in advancing disability rights and representation in the communications, media, or entertainment industries.
“The Lamb School is very proud of Victoria’s recognition with this prestigious scholarship,” said Bart Collins, professor of practice and the Lamb School’s director of graduate studies. “Our program works very hard to ensure that students have the resources they need to be successful, and we are honored that Victoria chose our program to be a part of her journey. She is an excellent student who is making real impact.”
Erdel Garcia lives what she teaches. She has ADHD herself along with chronic complex migraines, a neurological disorder that mimics the effects of a stroke.
She first heard about the Starfish Project when she was 13. Starfish Project founder and CEO Jenny McGee made a presentation at her church. Erdel Garcia said she decided then that she wanted to work in the anti-trafficking field. While earning her bachelor’s at Notre Dame, where she studied sociology and teaching English as a second language, she applied for an interview and ended up doing two summer internships at the Starfish Project’s office in Asia. Originally hired as an English teacher for trafficking survivors, she gravitated to managing the Starfish Project’s social media and then became the organization’s digital marketing manager.
Lesa McCant, U.S. operations director for the Starfish Project, was effusive in her praise of Erdel Garcia, who she said has organized and enhanced the Starfish Project’s online presence, reach and stature while advancing its mission in the process.
“She is a priceless asset to our team on various fronts and she is also driven by the mission of Starfish Project, restoring hope to exploited women,” McCant said. “She is vibrant, adventurous, a deep thinker, and an endless source of joy.”
Erdel Garcia worried that she might feel disconnected as an online student. She hasn’t. She enjoys ample interaction with instructors and peers through online discussions and networking events, email exchanges and virtual meetings. An added advantage: she interacts with classmates of different ages, backgrounds and experience levels in a program geared to working professionals, which has been valuable in broadening her perspective.
“I feel like it's the best of all worlds because I get the built-in flexibility with my schedule and with my location, but I also get to have that sense of community that I think a lot of on-campus students also have,” she said. “'I’ve found that pretty much all the opportunities that Purdue has to offer are available to online students.”
In addition to the Tony Coelho Scholarship, she’s won a 2022 Ruben Salazar Scholarship through the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and a 2022 William B. Ruggles Scholarship for journalism and communication students with an interest in labor rights.
Matt Charles, an internationally known strategic and crisis communications professional who is one of Erdel Garcia’s instructors in the Purdue program, wrote a letter of recommendation for her Tony Coelho Scholarship application.
“She is one of the hardest working and most collaborative and talented students with whom I have had the pleasure to work,” Charles said when asked about Erdel Garcia. “Victoria – most certainly – will be an important leader in the strategic communication field.”
Writer: Greg Kline, Purdue Online, 765-426-8545, gkline@purdue.edu.