Student Success Stories: Oscar Morales
Meet Oscar Morales, a senior transfer-student at UW Oshkosh who will be graduating in December 2021 with a major in business finance and Spanish certificate. Throughout his time on campus, Oscar has been the vice president of Gentlemen of Excellence and a member of the Student Organization of Latinos and the Finance Club. Along with this, he has a part-time job through the Men of Color & Latino/a/Hispanic Initiatives. Oscar also got the opportunity to go to a conference for the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute. “That was very eye opening to me since I’ve always been one to get involved, but that just made me want to get even more involved,” Oscar said. “It was very inspiring to hear from all these leaders across the country and all this change they’re doing, and just being surrounded by a lot of Hispanic/Latino students is very inspiring. From that conference, I gained a lot of motivation and drive to do more, which got me the opportunity to be vice president of the Gentlemen of Excellence.” From these experiences as a leader on campus, Oscar was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence and has been nominated for the Outstanding Emerging Leader Award.
Oscar has been offered four internships with the companies Northwestern Mutual, Brakebush Brothers, Secura Insurance and Kohler. “Although every opportunity I got would have been perfect, I wanted to explore a little more before just picking the first one I was offered,” Oscar said. “Kohler was my number one option if they gave me the opportunity because it’s in my hometown and it’s a really good company that I know a lot about.” After months of long interview processes and negotiating with multiple companies, Oscar was finally offered the internship he was hoping for with Kohler. “It’s hard when you get different options and you have to pick one and you want the best one that fits for you,” Oscar said. “So, I already accepted the offer with Kohler, doing all the paperwork right now and will be starting May 24.”
Oscar is grateful for the resources on campus that allowed him to improve his professional development and utilize networking opportunities — especially the business skills course that introduced him to services provided by the Career & Professional Development office. Through these experiences, Oscar learned professional etiquette, networking skills and how to optimize his LinkedIn profile to stand out to employers. “Just going into the career fair and having the opportunity to show companies that I’m interested really helped a lot, along with connecting on LinkedIn and sending lots of emails, which is all stuff I learned to do through the business skills class,” Oscar said. “Each time I spoke to someone at the career fair, I then went ahead and either the next day or so would connect with them on LinkedIn, so that was very helpful to build those connections.”
Oscar said his vision for the next five years has changed since he accepted the internship with Kohler. “If everything goes well, I’m hoping to be working with Kohler and become that young professional that can come back to Oshkosh and give pointers to students like me,” Oscar said. “I would love to come back to Oshkosh and be able to give back in any way that I can.” He also hopes to travel, have a well-paying job and, eventually, get his master’s degree. “I definitely want to add to my education and just continue to learn, whether it’s through school, my job or life experiences alone,” Oscar said. “I just want to continue to prosper as a young adult — help others, give back and just know that if I try hard and have the right mindset, it’ll pay off because it definitely has already.”
The biggest advice Oscar would offer other students is to make connections and get involved on campus. “The people at this university, all they want is to help you and you can tell they really care for you, so seek them out because it’s their job, they want to do it and they love what they do,” Oscar said. “I know I’ll have a long term relationship with the director who’s mentored me and guided me and offered me so many opportunities that got me where I am today. You know, just give it your all and make the most out of the time you have here because it definitely flies by.”
Congratulations, Oscar, on all your achievements! We wish you the best of luck moving forward!
If you are pre-business student sign up for Bus 240 Professional Skills in Business on Titan Web.