La Salle University’s Economics and International Studies Program has given Coco Pelz, ‘28, an education that’s made her feel like she can tackle any career.   

For economics and international studies major Coco Pelz, ‘28, her time at La Salle University has been full of lessons and preparations for her future that she’s learned both in and out of the classroom.  

Pelz, a field hockey player, entered the transfer portal after her freshman year to look for somewhere that was more of an academic match for her. La Salle was that place.  

“I really love it. I felt welcomed from the beginning, right away,” Pelz said, adding although being part of the field hockey team was a big part of that, the entire Explorer community has been supportive. “I feel like it was so easy to meet people on campus too, obviously the small class sizes help, you can know the names of all the other students.”  

As well as the people she met, La Salle was also a much better fit when it came to Pelz’s academic goals. 

Pelz, an international student from Germany, always thought she wanted to do something related to medicine. However, when it came time to start thinking about what she would study, she realized that it didn’t capture her attention like she thought it would. After this, she turned to another subject she’d always been interested in, economics.  

“With economics, it was always like, there’s so many possibilities that you can do with it for jobs and in general after, and I was like, I want to try it,” she said.  

Prior to her arrival to 20^th and Olney, combining economics with another subject, something that she’d always wanted to do, wasn’t an option at her former institution. However, at La Salle, Pelz quickly enrolled in the Economics and International Studies Program.  

“It worked out very well here,” she said. “Combining economics and international studies in one just made sense because you have it everywhere, you can use it everywhere, and economics will happen in every part of the world.” 

Pelz has enjoyed and learned from everyone she’s met in the program, both students of all levels and the faculty, who she said help with as much as they can. Those teaching her also make sure that students really get what they are learning about and how it can impact the world around them.  

“I feel like all the professors are very personal and really trying to get you to understand the topics instead of just teaching it to you,” she said. “Economics is such a huge part of everything, and we’ll always need it somehow. So, I feel like the professors are really good at teaching you all of the parts but also showing you how it could happen in real life.”  

As well as feeling academically prepared, Pelz also credits her time at La Salle with feeling prepared for the world after graduation. Even as a sophomore with two years left of her higher education journey, she says that she “feels very prepared.”  

On top of the classes required for her major, Pelz has also had the chance to learn things that will help when she goes into the working world, like public speaking and building resumes, all of which have boosted her confidence.  

“You’re prepared for life when you leave,” she said.  

Being a student-athlete also comes with learning experiences that can be applied to everyday life, like time management.  

As an international student, whose first time to the U.S. was coming to college, there’s another unique lesson that Pelz has been learning during her time at La Salle.  

“I feel like it’s helping me get into life on my own in all perspectives,” she said. “If it’s studying my major, if it’s being here on my own without my family right next to me, or with my sport and time management, I’m learning how to organize my life myself.”  

Pelz doesn’t have a solid idea of how she wants to use her degree after she graduates yet. Her family has a business in Germany that makes nonwoven fabric and hygiene products which is an option. Thanks to her major, though, she doesn’t feel like she’s restricted to a certain field.  

“I feel like studying economics and international studies you get a very good overview of everything that is going on, and you can understand everything that’s going on,” she said. “It doesn’t matter which field you go to in the end because you can understand the structure behind it.”  

-Naomi Thomas