Ellie Walker ’25 had long envisioned herself in orange. For the daughter of a Syracuse alumnus, the university felt familiar, but it was an early encounter with the iSchool that clinched the deal. While a junior in high school, Walker attended IT Girls, an overnight retreat put on by the iSchool to encourage girls to explore careers in tech. “I already knew I wanted to go to Syracuse,” Walker says. “But this was my first exposure to the iSchool.”
That introduction proved pivotal. Walker enrolled at Syracuse as an information management and technology major and graduated last year magna cum laude. She was also selected as a Class Marshal—just like her father years earlier—marking a full-circle moment for her family.
For the native of Yardley, Pennsylvania, the transition to college came with another major change. It was the first time she had ever lived apart from her twin sister, Paige. “We were joined at the hip for the first 19 years,” Walker said. “And then we decided to go off to different schools—Paige went to Michigan State—and really establish ourselves on our own.”
That independence was tested early. Entering college during the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging, but Walker made a point to get involved as soon as possible, building both community and confidence. She joined the professional technology fraternity Kappa Theta Pi as a first-year student and remained active all four years. She also tutored statistics–working at Bird Library–assisted in the iSchool’s marketing and communications office, and served two years each as a Peer Advisor and Career Ambassador.
Those roles, along with experiences working as a kindergarten assistant teacher and at the Boys and Girls Club of Syracuse, she says, proved directly applicable to her professional life. “My experiences teaching gave me hugely transferable skills,” Walker explains. “Companies want you to be able to explain what you’re doing, whether to clients or colleagues.”
Academically, Walker paired her IMT degree with dual concentrations in web design and digital retail strategies. “I feel the iSchool also does a good job with the concentrations,” she said. “Tech jobs are so specialized, and this really helps with broadening your skills.”
During her summers, Walker explored different career paths through internships at Campus Ink and FS Investments (now Future Standard), where she worked insSales and design and IT infrastructure and support, respectively. That experience set her up for her current role as an engineering analyst in the analyst program at the Bank of New York, where she works in Production Services at the company’s New York City headquarters. Walker believes iSchool coursework—particularly a sophomore-year class in networks and cloud computing—prepared her well. “When I came into this role, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s literally that class,’” she said.
True to form, Walker has already immersed herself in her new workplace, getting involved in volunteering opportunities and participating in a hackathon just one month into the job, where her team tied for second place. “It’s been a really big transition from college to corporate,” Walker said. “But I came in feeling prepared. So much of what I’m doing now connects back to what I learned at the iSchool.”