Senior Finds Success in Finance

Jesus Rosas '24 has always had a strong work ethic. He came to Trinity University’s campus with his resumé in hand, ready to apply for local restaurant jobs to supplement his education costs and get involved with the community. A Trustee’s Scholar hailing from Brownsville, Texas, he is the first member of his family to attend university outside of his hometown. “Once it actually came time to move away, my parents aren’t very emotional people, but they got pretty emotional when they dropped me off and saw how beautiful the campus was,” Rosas remembers.

He ultimately chose Trinity for the faculty-to-student ratio. “That's what really caught my attention,” he says. “Being able to stay after the class, talk to your professors, and build relationships with them, that goes a long way.”

Rosas came to Trinity intending to study business analytics and technology. “I had heard that data and analytics was a booming industry,” he explains, “But my roommate, Josue Parra, was in finance. Just through our conversations and being in the room with him doing his homework, I became fascinated by what he was doing.”

Having switched majors to finance nearly two years in, he began to look for opportunities to network. Rosas was invited to a finance conference hosted by the Hispanic Scholarship Fund in New York City in 2022.

“It was a crazy experience,” Rosas says. “You have these people who are actually working on Wall Street coming in, giving you feedback on your resumé, and lining you up for interviews. That's really helpful in boosting your networking confidence.” Rosas was recently selected as one of 16 mentors invited to return for the 2023 conference. “I want to go and give back to the next generation. All of the knowledge that I feel like I have now is a hundred times more compared to where I was just last year.” 

This newfound confidence has carried him far; he was selected for the competitive Hispanic Immersion Program at the insurance company TIAA in Denver, where he interned this past summer on a scholarship. “TIAA was an amazing introduction to the corporate environment for me,” Rosas says. “I had previous internships, but I was never in the office getting that feel for the week in, week out. I loved the opportunity to be dynamic and make connections with staff and mentors.” 

Rosas is now spending his fall semester studying abroad in Rome, London, and Berlin as he prepares to graduate in the spring. He continues to give back to the Trinity community through his leadership roles in the fraternity Chi Delta Tau and through First Generation Investors, a volunteer organization founded to mentor high schoolers in the community on financial literacy. 

His advice to students starting out is to remember that Rome was not built in isolation; connecting with others and asking for help is a powerful tool to get you where you want to go. “Anyone can understand the technical prowess of anything, but not everyone can connect with people and build long-lasting relationships.”