Romanko graduated summa cum laude this May with a degree in business administration and a concentration in innovation and entrepreneurship, achieving a 4.0 grade-point average. She has been involved with SkillsUSA ever since she was a junior high school. The student organization partners with businesses, trade associations and unions to offer its more than 430,000 members educational programs, events and competitions that support career and technical education. More than 13 million students have been numbered among its ranks since it was formed in 1965.
“I had the opportunity to compete in high school at the national level in a different competition — entrepreneurship — and then in college, I decided to compete in a different competition — job interview — because I wanted to try something different.”
She also won at the state level in 2020 but the competition was canceled at the national level that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, she was elected as national president of the student organization and wasn’t allowed to compete.
Earlier this month, Romanko started her career as a financial professional at 49 Financial, an Austin-based financial-planning agency. She spent the summer in the company’s bridge program working toward her industry certifications. She credits the education she received at the Jindal School for giving her the foundation she needed to pass the required certification exams.
“JSOM’s been really great with this preparation,” she said. “I think all the experience I had while I was a student just developing general business knowledge was what really helped me pass the exams.”
Romanko plans to work for five years and then enroll in graduate school to pursue an MBA.
“And then at some point, later on, I do want to probably get a PhD and teach,” she said. “I really, really enjoy talking to people and learning and helping others.”
Her fondest memories of her time at the Jindal School include interviewing officers to succeed her in the UT Dallas Entrepreneurship Club, starting the UT Dallas chapter of SkillsUSA and helping to make a positive impact on the UT Dallas campus.
“I’ve been part of the Entrepreneurship Club since I was a freshman, and obtained an officer position the following semester,” she said. “I loved getting to see how students could help carry on that legacy. I learned a lot from having to start the SkillsUSA chapter at UT Dallas and getting to meet so many new people. Learning a lot about rejection I think helped me too when I was applying to jobs.”
Romanko treasures her memories of her time at the Jindal School, which included getting to do plenty of volunteer work.
“Looking back, I think just being able to be involved in so many different opportunities and have everyone at UT Dallas be so open to trying new things summarizes my experience,” she said. “I just love my time there. I made so many great memories.”
Romanko has joined the UT Dallas Alumni Association and plans to do whatever she can to give back to the UTD community whenever she can.
“One thing that I would want other students to know about is that you don’t have to follow the traditional path that everyone else has followed,” she said. “Just coming to UT Dallas and seeing how open they are to so many students from so many different backgrounds — that was really important to me because when I came to Dallas, I knew no one, absolutely no one, and so I remember meeting some great friends who I’m still friends with now. UT Dallas really helped me find my community and ingrained in me how important it is to have fun but also do well in school.”
