In her valedictory speech in May, Jennifer Lynn Neczypor said commencement is a time “to commit ourselves to creating, living and being the future we desire.” However, the 2009 graduate made her commitment the moment she came to LMU.
Selection of the valedictorian is based primarily on grades, as well as service to the school and community. During her four years at LMU, Neczypor kept busy as an assistant for the LMU Honors Program, and a cinematographer for the women's basketball team and for Video Ministry. She was involved with Gryphon Circle, a service organization, and Passion, the social justice magazine.
Off campus, she volunteered with Underwings at nearby Dolores Mission and 9th Street Elementary School. In her senior year, Neczyapor, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and philosophy as well as a bachelor’s degree screenwriting, interned for Imprint Entertainment, a film production company.
Her interest in helping others is clear, but Neczypor, a Sacramento native, says she is also “obsessed” with traveling. “Someday I want to get my pilot's license and visit every country in the world, if that is even possible,” she says. Neczypor has already experienced living in a foreign nation and will get another chance to do in the fall.
In spring ’08, she studied abroad in Dharamsala, India, where she interned for Students for a Free Tibet, India. In September, she will head to the South Pacific to begin work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Vanuatu, where she will teach primary school and provide literacy training for more than two years.
Neczypor says what she liked most about LMU is the university’s emphasis on social justice. “A lot of students are concerned with issues beyond themselves, and interested in helping others,” she says. “I think the school does a good job of motivating students to go into the world and make a difference."
Ultimately, Neczypor plans to write novels and screenplays, direct films and continue working with the causes important to her. “Ideally, my books and movies will promote social justice and shed light on problems facing the world.”