Kate (Hope) Giscomb ’11

A Westchester native, Kate (Hope) Giscomb ’11 always wanted to go to a school far from home. That changed, however, after visiting Purchase.

Giscomb found herself gravitating toward its welcoming environment after meeting with both the teaching faculty and students; she knew this was the positive place she craved to learn and grow for the next four years.

While at Purchase, Hope majored in Media, Society, and  the Arts, (which has now become Media Studies), with a minor in Anthropology. The major is largely based around ethnographic research on its approach to media, integrating creative endeavors with cultural theory. “It’s a great major,” Hope says, “because it allowed me to explore a lot of real life, with current trends and situations with media and how other cultures use it and relate to it.”

The combination of her major and minor, Giscomb says, “set the stage” for her internships and jobs from her time at Purchase and following graduation. She felt they helped in all aspects of her career, allowing her to better understand the consumer and tailor her materials and creative tools to receive a better response and reaction from people.

As the Manager of Stewardship, Technology and Communication at Abbott House, a Human Service Organization in Irvington, New York, Hope performs a wide array of jobs from fundraising to site managing and marketing, PR, and outreach. She refers to her work as the “fun side of social services”.

Remaining in consistent contact with her professors, including Jason Pine and Lorraine Plourde, Hope brings current students on as interns and hosting them as speakers for Abbott House events. Giscomb has also hired other Purchase alumni, including Kelly Ann Peatree and Matt Cheroff, to work freelance jobs at her organization.

Giscomb’s words of alumni wisdom to any current student at Purchase College are to “absorb all the information you can while here. Don’t take your time for granted because the connections you make at Purchase will serve you in the future.”

—Written by Leila Louhaichy, Junior