Meet Our Student of the Month: Sofia Pereda

In partnership with the Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF), each month we profile a promising student in a graphic communications or related program. The goal is to raise awareness of graphic communications programs, as well as help students get a “leg up” on entering the industry after graduation. This month, we profile Sofia Pereda, a fourth-year student at Clemson University studying graphic communication.

In our new Student of the Month feature developed, in partnership with WhatTheyThink, we profile a promising student in a graphic communications or related program. The goal is to raise awareness of graphic communications programs, as well as help students get a “leg up” on entering the industry after graduation.

This month’s Student of the Month is Sofia Pereda, a student in her fourth year at Clemson University majoring in Graphic Communication. Associate professor Carl Blue, on his nomination form, said of Sofia, “She has consistently demonstrated initiative and professionalism, producing large-scale branded installations for world-class clients, developing innovative instructional content that enhanced student learning, and delivering high-quality design solutions under tight deadlines. Her diverse experiences—from structural design and digital media to marketing and photography—reflect not only her talent but also her adaptability and dedication. Sofia is also a recipient of a PGSF scholarship.

While she majored in Graphic Communication, when she started college, she was headed in a completely different direction.

“When I graduated high school, I went to Clemson to study biology,” she said. “I had a huge passion for biology. I loved it.” After her first year, she started to look into what she could do with a degree in biology, and while she loved the subject, the opportunities were decidedly less appealing. “I didn’t want to be a professor, or anything in the medical field, and I didn’t want to do research. So, what’s something else that I could go into that I would want to pursue after I graduate?”

And the answer was literally hanging on her walls. “My sister was still at Clemson at the time, and she  said, ‘Have you looked at your room?’ I have art all over my room, all over the walls. I’ve always made stuff, and I’ve always liked to create new things.”

She investigated the majors that Clemson offers, but also wanted to find something that could be tied to business and marketing—and she ultimately came to Graphic Communications. “I thought it was kind of crazy that a lot of other universities don’t have graphic communications programs,” she said, “because I think it offers so many things that you could go into after you graduate, such as marketing, accounting, printing, graphic design.”

Read the Full Artcle about Sofia Pereda Here