I found John Cabot University at a time in my life when I didn’t know where to go next. I was an 18-year-old in my first year of studies at the Belgrade Faculty of Theology. It wasn’t exactly what I had pictured when a high school teacher recommended it to me, and it was not as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be. I was unsure of my next steps and was thinking about doing a six-month tour in the military.
While I was thinking over all of my options, I took a long weekend trip to Rome to visit some old family friends. They took me on a tour of Trastevere and as we walked around we stumbled upon John Cabot University. The JCU environment appealed to me right away: it seemed like a great place for a young person to start off on their own. I decided to apply and see what would happen.
My own personal experience at John Cabot did not disappoint. Coming from an international background—growing up in Hungary, Belgium, and Serbia—I found just what I was looking for at JCU. I joined a group of like-minded individuals not only from my home countries, but from all over the world. We saw eye to eye, regardless of what language we were speaking together—Serbian, French, English, or Italian.
One of the virtues that has stuck with me isn’t just the fact that I “attended a good college,” but that I got to create such a great network of people. Oftentimes, conversations with fellow students were just as stimulating as classroom discussions, and the class time would roll over to the coffee shops in Trastevere, or to the ping pong table in the Guarini Courtyard. Such a diverse and interesting group really made the difference for me, and I know the friendships I made there will last a lifetime.
While I was a student, I had the opportunity to work as a Resident Assistant, and as a leader of the Martial Arts club. These roles taught me discipline, and how to be in control under pressure. Today, I am the Commercial Manager for a French industrial group called White Technologies. My day-to-day tasks include overseeing the activities in our Serbian production plant, maintaining relationships with our existing clients, and approaching new prospective clients.
The International Affairs major really gave me a great overview of the international environment that both business and politics are based on. During the job-hunting process, whatever field I interviewed for, I never felt out of place or uninformed, thanks to my JCU education.
At work and in my personal life, I'm still in contact with the people I met at college. They are great contacts to have, and we always end up helping each other for professional or personal projects. I know without JCU I would not be where I am today.
Lazar Vujaklija
Class of 2015
International Affairs major and Entrepreneurship minor
Grew up in Serbia, Hungary, and Belgium
