Destination Success | Jardel Javier | Watch HPU

Chapters & Transcript

0:00

My name is Jardel Javier. I'm originally from Naperville, Illinois, and I graduated in the spring of 2026 with a major in marketing and minors in sales and global commerce. I'm currently based out of Fort Myers, Florida, working as an account manager with Gartner.

0:26

High Point University was the last stop on my college tour route, and I remember feeling just right at home as soon as I stepped onto campus.

I knew right off the bat I wanted to major in marketing. I had a love for business and for people and developing relationships, but I think even over the course of the four years, I geared a little bit more towards the sales world of business.

0:48

I got involved with sales club right at the beginning of my freshman year, and during my freshman year, I met a Gartner recruiter. We had known each other throughout the four years of my college experience. Every single career fair, I ended up doing the internship with Gartner after my junior year, and then got a return offer after that. My return offer came towards the beginning of my senior year.

1:11

It felt great to have a full-time job lined up pretty much right at the beginning of my senior year. A lot of times, the reason people go to college is to have that full-time job offer afterwards and really kick-start their career, and I felt like that was true for me. It was something that I didn't have to worry about. As an account manager, I speak with my clients pretty much every single day, and those clients are C-suite level executives. High Point University does a fantastic job preparing students for that sort of situation. My freshman year, I had the opportunity to pitch a business idea to Marc Randolph, the co-founder of Netflix.

It was that experience and so many more after that that really set me up to be confident in my ability to network, be confident in my professionalism, and other life skills.

1:55

High Point University is absolutely an easy place to find a mentor who's going to be with you every step of the way. Right from freshman year, professors want to get involved. They want to know your major. They want to know where you're from. They want to know your aspirations, and they carry that along throughout the four years. I remember meeting Professor Larry Quinn at the open houses preview fair, and we had bonded immediately over our love for deep dish Chicago style pizza. And since then, he's become a great mentor to me. We hopped on a phone call, and he actually walked me through the sales program.

I stopped by his office multiple times throughout my four years just to chat about professional things, personal things. Professor Quinn is just a joy and a light in the room. Such a happy jolly guy, and immediately brings joy to any situation that he's in.

2:43

Dr. Seguin has been a mentor to me. He helped me to learn so much about the marketing world. We also did study abroad together. I went on his marketing in Spain Maymester, and there he taught us about business internationally. So, it was just a very cool experience, and he's always been a constant in my life um ever since my freshman year. When I was a freshman, I got very involved with the office of career and professional development. I went in to get my resume polished by a career advisor, and later down the line in my college career, I actually ended up becoming a student employee for the office of CPD.

I worked as a partnership development associate on the employer relations side of the office working with our corporate partners, organizing our career fair, and other sorts of opportunities within the employer relations world.

3:31

When I walked across the stage at graduation, I knew that I was a transformed person in my confidence, in my professionalism. My parents were excited, and I was excited that I was going to walk that stage with more than just a college degree in my hand, more than just a diploma.

I was able to walk away with life skills, experiential learning. I do even have three younger siblings who attend there currently, and I know my three younger siblings are going to have the exact same when they graduate. At High Point University, there's a call to action, choose to be extraordinary. And to me, that means intentionally making the decision to improve a little bit every single day. And I think it's really important to intentionally live one's life in service and in learning and in so much more.

Jardel Javier, a High Point University marketing graduate now working as an account manager at Gartner, reflects on how his HPU experience shaped his career. He credits hands-on opportunities like pitching to Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph, mentorship from faculty such as Professor Larry Quinn and Dr. Seguin, and support from the Office of Career and Professional Development with landing an internship and full-time offer from Gartner before graduation. He also highlights HPU's study abroad program and the university's 'choose to be extraordinary' philosophy as key to his personal and professional growth.

Destination Success | Jardel Javier

Destination Success | Jardel Javier

Introduction

Why did Jardel choose High Point University?

How did HPU's sales club lead to a Gartner internship?

How did HPU prepare Jardel for a career before graduation?

How easy is it to find a mentor at High Point University?

How did mentors and HPU's career office shape his path?

What life skills do HPU graduates gain?