Recent Graduate Credits Rider With Success

Christina Diecidue ’16 knew she wanted to be involved in campus life at Rider University. On her first day of class, she met the president of the Student Government Association, who helped guide her as she discovered all the opportunities Rider had to offer.

“She was a great mentor and introduced me to the people who could point me in the right direction,” Diecidue says.

Diecidue was the senior class president and former junior class president. As a sophomore, she joined Rider’s Leadership Development Program and graduated in May with a leadership certificate and degree in marketing and advertising. As she prepares to enter the workforce, she hopes her skills and energy will translate into an advertising job in New York City.

Diecidue was an Andrew J. Rider Scholar and a member of several honor societies. Last year, she received the Joseph R. Aspland Memorial Endowed Scholarship. Established in April 2000 through a planned gift from the Aspland estate, the scholarship is awarded to an undergraduate student studying business. Scholarships made through planned gifts like the Asplands’ help unleash student potential as they grow from undergraduates into leaders in the workforce.

“The scholarship has helped me offset the cost of college,” says Diecidue. “If more students understood how giving works, I think they’d be more apt to give once they graduate. Having a strong connection to Rider has made me want to give back in the future.”

Diecidue, originally from Allentown, N.J., has lived on Rider’s Lawrenceville campus for the past four years. While she visited several other colleges in her search, no other school had the close, connected community that Rider did.

“The minute I stepped onto campus, it felt like a comfortable, family atmosphere,” she says.

The biggest factor in her decision to enroll at Rider, she says, was the quality and reputation of its business school. Several family friends—who remain generous supporters of the University—also received degrees from Rider’s College of Business Administration. Her family helped her choose marketing and advertising because they believed she had a natural aptitude for it. She believes her education and extracurricular experiences at Rider have helped her become well-rounded in the field.

“There’s not one specific topic I’m interested in,” she says, though she names copywriting and campaign management as her greatest strengths. “Rider has helped me get my feet wet in all of these different areas.”

Last summer, Diecidue interned at a digital marketing agency in Belmar, N.J., called SEMgeeks, where she gained real-world experience in her field. She wrote copy for internal web pages, created case studies, researched target markets for clients and contributed to the company’s social media efforts.

“I really liked it,” she says. “I was able to do so many different things and apply what I was learning in school.”

Diecidue, who minored in web design, understands the importance of digital media in her field. As a social media intern for the Princeton Half Marathon, she managed the race’s presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Despite that experience, her dream is to interact directly with clients as an account manager.

“The age of traditional media is fading,” she says. “I could never see myself sitting behind a computer all day long. I definitely want some interaction with people.”

If you want to learn more about how you can make a difference for Rider students like Christina Diecidue with a planned gift, please contact Ryan W. Baumuller at 609-896-5233 or rbaumuller@rider.edu.