Before arriving at Klein College of Media and Communication, our students have a diverse array of experiences that allows each of them to bring something unique to our community.
Freshman communication studies major Christa Wills came to Temple University this past fall after living abroad in Thailand and Singapore for several years. She is using those experiences to shape the way she thinks about her goals and aspirations for her time at Klein College and beyond.
Wills moved to Thailand in middle school because her parents work for the State Department. She moved back to the United States briefly at the beginning of her high school years before moving with her family to Singapore after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Singapore was a different experience for Wills than Thailand. The U.S. Embassies in some countries have overseas hire programs for the eligible family members of people like Wills’ parents. As a junior and senior in high school in Singapore, Wills was old enough to take advantage of the program.
Wills started in human resources and assisted with logistics for an awards ceremony the embassy was hosting. After, she transitioned to public affairs.
“I really enjoyed my time in public affairs,” Wills said. “We got to go out and explore the community.”
In public affairs, Wills attended community events and even got to conduct interviews at the U.S. Embassy’s 4th of July Red Carpet.
Wills enjoys telling stories and performing and has had a YouTube channel with her own content for several years. In the summer of 2023, Wills had just gotten a new camera and started joking around the office that she would do interviews for the upcoming red carpet event.
What started as a joke turned into a reality when the other people in her department decided that Wills should definitely be there on the red carpet interviewing guests. On July 4, 2023, Wills celebrated the U.S.-Singapore relationship by interviewing the U.S. ambassador to Singapore Jonathan Kaplan, Harley-Davidson representatives and Associate Vice President for Basketball Operations of NBA Asia Carlos Barroca.
While working in public affairs was a big part of Wills’ experience in Singapore, she also attended high school like any other teenager.
In eleventh grade, Wills took a class that culminated in a passion project. One thing that Wills has always been passionate about is financial literacy. From a young age, her family stressed to her the importance of making good financial decisions, and while she hasn’t always been the best with it, she said she is still an advocate for teaching young children about finance as much as math and reading.
“I felt like there was an area where children weren’t learning what my parents had been telling me,” Wills said. This led to her writing The Frugal Frog, a children’s book about a frog that learns to make good decisions with his money.
Wills collaborated with another student at her school to illustrate the book and got it published on Amazon before finishing high school.
Freshman Dakota Williams met Wills in the fall, and the two became fast friends. Williams noted that it is interesting when young people like Wills write books, and it just goes to show their talent and passion for the subject.
“I’m really glad that we’ve met this school year, and I know we’ll be friends for a really long time,” Williams said.
Now, at Temple, Wills is pursuing communication studies to explore her passion for writing and interest in journalism.
During her first semester, Wills took FIN 0822: Investing for the Future and is now committed to monthly investing. She also took CMST 1111: Communication and Public Life and made quite an impression on Director of Undergraduate Studies Scott Gratson, TYL ’19.
In class last semester, Gratson decided to show a documentary about third-culture kids: young people like Wills who have lived in many places across the world. Wills was able to share her experiences with the class and be proof that having to move abroad is a positive experience for many kids.
“Who and what we are is partially dependent on where we have been,” Gratson said. He can tell that Wills will continue to use her experiences to enrich her time at Temple.
Wills is also a member of Temple’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program and noted that she has already learned so much about leadership from her experiences. Communication studies and ROTC both stress the importance of leadership, Wills said, and she uses what she learns in both endeavors to support the other. For the spring 2024 semester, she was promoted to a squad leader position.
“I feel that things are starting to come together for me, and I’m excited for what else is in store for my college experience and beyond,” Wills said.