From music to marketing to the MSJ Dance Team, Jetta McCart ‘24 climbs higher as a double-major and expert-balancer of college interests.
The first time Jetta McCart learned about the Mount was when Mark McCafferty, the director of bands, made a visit to her high school. Mark invited Jetta to shadow music students and even play in a concert with the Mount’s band—two experiences that cemented her future as an MSJ student.
“Knowing that people were very helpful here and wanted to see students succeed was a major factor in coming here,” Jetta adds.
Starting off in Music Education, Jetta soon switched to Marketing with the hopes of getting a full-time job right out of college, which she figured would come in a much more expedited fashion with a business-related degree. She, though, also wanted education beyond a single degree, and so found that Management paired well with Marketing.
Makings of an Expressive Leader
Jetta began her college career as a commuter student. But by the time she finished her freshman semester, she decided to become an RA. In doing so, she placed herself in a position where she could guide other people, which had its own self-beneficial effects.
“I wanted to help incoming freshmen to feel like they were part of a community,” Jetta says, “and I also felt like it was a great way to make me feel like a part of a community as well.”
Through this experience, Jetta developed her leadership capabilities as she contributed to an environment of comfort and accessibility so that students felt enabled to ask questions and receive advice from her as needed. Such a position, paired with her other obligations as a college student, conditioned her to be able to juggle all areas of her college life.
Jetta expresses this balance in both her professional and artistic interests. Alongside her daily tasks of studying business and RA-ing, she spends her time participating in the Mount’s dance team. This passion, which she has had for the majority of her life, serves as a centerpiece in her identity and self-expression.
“I have danced for 16 almost 17 years of my life, so dancing has shaped me into who I am as well as giving me an outlet to release my stress and express my creativity,” she says.
Prior to her college career, Jetta trained 5 days a week at a studio, learning a variety of dance styles. In hopes to gain experience with even more forms of choreography, she decided to continue her passion for dance in college, where she met the Mount’s incredible team.
“The dance team has become my family and my dance coach, Miranda, has become a person in my life that I can come to when something’s on my mind and I know she will help me find a solution. Dance holds a special place in my heart and I don’t know where I would be without it.”
Choreographing Her Own Achievement
It was in the dance team that Jetta first learned about the Student Government Association (SGA). A friend of hers on the team and the President of the SGA at the time mentioned to her how much they loved the Mount’s student government. During her sophomore year, she joined the SGA as Special Events Chair, where she operated as a planner and host of the Welcome Back Party and the Exam Jam events.
Within the second semester of her sophomore year, she was Vice President and by the beginning of her junior year, she became the leader of the organization as a whole.
“At the beginning of my Junior year, I took over as President where I have monthly meetings with President Williams and I hold the weekly SGA meetings,” says Jetta. “I also am a resource for all of the members. I will remain as President next year [and] will be the first President to serve more than one term in the past decade.”
Along with student government, Jetta is building her professional skillset through her co-ops and internships. As a previous Visual Communications co-op for the Career and Experiential Education Center, she managed social media accounts, created weekly newsletters, and designed flyers and Service Day shirts. Now working for the Cincinnati Insurance Company as a Graphic Design Intern, Jetta makes flyers for company events and edits insurance documents.
While graphic design is not where she ultimately places her career goals, “it has been a great experience and a stepping stone towards the end goal of social media/digital marketing,” says Jetta.
Crescendo of a College Career
With just a year to go before graduation, Jetta has been through nearly every aspect of university life and acquired a more-than-well-rounded versatility. As she continues to actualize herself as a leader, she remains vocal about her experience as a first-generation college student.
Jetta was selected as one out of a few students to speak at the Mount’s Jubilee event in 2022, emphasizing a significant facilitator for student attendance: “I spoke about being a first-generation college student and how I wouldn’t be able to be at Mount St. Joseph University without scholarships.”
But this wasn’t the only accomplishment of Jetta’s in 2022. Around the same time she served as a Jubilee speaker, Jetta was also inducted into Sigma Beta Delta, an international business honor society, and received the Excellence in Leadership Award.
With such well-deserved acknowledgments for her hard work and exceptional leadership skills, Jetta excels at what she does, gracefully and purposefully, as though achievement were a dance.
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About our Marketing program
Marketing majors participate in focused learning of concepts, theories and professional practice related to understanding consumer needs, developing compelling strategies, and delivering creative content and experiences.
Marketing students have the opportunity to enroll in the 4+1 M.B.A. program during their senior year. The 4+1 program gives students the ability to graduate with two degrees in five years: Bachelor of Science in Marketing and a Master of Business Administration.
Interested in learning more? Check out our Marketing program page here!