LAMP Student Madeline Petrucelli - MHO Major with a Passion for Writing and Creating Environmental Change
Monday, April 18, 2022
Meet Madeline Petrucelli, a sophomore in the LAMP major, Management and Human Organization (MHO). Madeline joined MHO at the end of freshman year, after having started as a theatre major. “ I went through a list of majors to find something business related that I could add some sort of liberal arts thinking to,” –and there it was! The perfect fit.
Despite the challenges of a freshman-year dominated by COVID and online classes, Petrucelli has done all she can to get involved with campus life. Currently, she is enjoying her participation in Independent Council at IU, and says, “it has helped me get to know the campus, the people, and to participate in several philanthropic events to help the community.” She also participated in the 2022 Connect Challenge at IU, which taught her that she can make a change in the world. “My Connect Challenge presentation was about finding ways to get microplastics out of the ocean and our drinking water, and that sparked an interest and yearn for finding a way to provide everyone with clean drinking water in and out of the U.S.” Petrucelli is now looking at summer internship opportunities and is considering joining the Peace Corps after graduation in effort to make environmental change.
Outside of school, Petrucelli is interested in writing, reading, and Star Wars. She says, “My passion for writing has sincerely helped me in my interest in the business and professional world. Even when I don't have too much going on with my writing in an academic or professional sense, I aim to write every day. I do a lot of poetry and prose writing to organize my thoughts and feelings. One project that my writing led me to was a study on how women's voices are silenced, which included a poem of mine about surviving an assault. It did a lot for me in terms of recovering, but it also helped others tell their story and highlighted what was going on within the school system (both at IU and my high school).” You can read Petrucelli’s poem here. (content warning: sexual assault)
Throughout her time at IU, Petrucelli has most enjoyed taking the Arts of Communication (LAMP-M 201) course with Dr. Josh Hasler. Before taking the course, Petrucelli struggled with professional communication as it is oftentimes intimidating. She says, “This course (and Dr. Josh!) taught me new ways to communicate with people, but it was more than just being professional; it was creative and took emotion and thought to participate in the class.”
Petrucelli is most thankful to LAMP and MHO for teaching her to approach problems with multiple different perspectives. She is appreciative that she is now able to “take steps back, figure out what could be adjusted or changed, and then move forward in a different way.” She says this is something that she will take with her after college and in her adult life.
We hope you enjoyed getting to know Madeline! She has a final piece of advice to give both current and new MHO and LAMP students: “It is okay to be wrong or to mess up. There are going to be a lot of different ways to interact with people and lead them as well. You will have to learn new ways to go about conflict, communication, and understand new topics that you haven’t heard of before, but that’s all part of it.”
Thank you to Madeline Petrucelli for telling us about her experiences in LAMP and MHO! If you are a current LAMP or MHO student with an interesting experience to share, feel free to email us at lamp@indiana.edu.
