As Bruce Claxton  KLN ’24, was wrapping up his senior year at Temple when panic arose into the days until graduation with no job. The journalism major submitted his résumé to hundreds of companies that spring but was met with silence.  

 A friend recommended that he apply for a position in Temple’s Office of Institutional Advancement as a digital communications coordinator. He applied and took every bit of knowledge he learned as a Klein student to get his name to the top of the list. Claxton tracked down the hiring manager’s contact, sent emails and leveraged his network in every way he could to land the role. 

Two days later, he received a message stating his application was no longer being considered. Although he could have given up, he didn’t. He reached out to every connection he knew at Klein College to request letters of recommendation. On the day of his graduation, he received a call with a job offer.  

“If it weren't for my past job experience, it wouldn't have given me the confidence and encouragement to ask those questions and go for the job,” said Claxton.  

Claxton kept himself busy during his time at Temple, seizing every opportunity. He served as a resident assistant and Owl Team leader, and worked for Klein as a technical equipment consultant, event photographer and peer mentor. 

In all these jobs, he had the chance to connect with faculty, students and other professionals to learn more about what he wanted to do outside of school.  His interest in higher education grew through his role as a Klein College Peer Mentor.  

Maggie Lewis, vice dean for student success at Klein, collaborated with Claxton in the second half of his senior year to run Klein College Experience.  Lewis strongly recommended that Claxton pursue a role in higher education and was one of the individuals who sent a recommendation to his current position at the Office of Institutional Advancement.  

“He was just a joy to work with every day, really great ideas,” said Lewis. “We would have a meeting and I would throw an idea of what we might be able to do and Bruce would very quicky bring it to life. He consistently impressed me.” 

 A Connecticut native, Claxton came to Temple in fall 2020 as a communication and social influence major. In high school, he was one of the first to join his student newspaper writing and taking photos. After one semester, he switched to journalism.  

In the array of classes he took, he quickly fell more in love with photography. Sarah Landwehr, assistant professor of instruction, taught Claxton in photo-based classes, where the two hit it off. In the fall of his junior year, the two had a candid conversation about Claxton’s future career path. 

“Everything that I offered, he showed up for,” said Landwehr. “He came into my intro photo class not knowing how to use a camera and very quicky he found his passion and his voice with the camera.” 

After graduation, Claxton traveled to South Africa with Temple’s Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy, and Leadership (IDEAL) as part of its Global X Learning Experience.  There, he joined fellow Temple students to explore anti-racism and gentrification through a comparative study of apartheid-era South Africa and racial dynamics in the United States.  

While Claxton is grateful for the job he landed, he wishes he had spent less time worrying and more time enjoying his final weeks at Temple. 

“I feel like stressing out my last few weeks before graduation about a job, a lot of what my friends and close family was telling me that ‘You are on your own time and everybody's journey is different,” said Claxton.