UMSL alum Georgeann McLemore (front row, green sweater) came back to campus last week to share her success story with students in Michael Costello’s class. She started her new job in Washington, D.C., on Monday. (Photos by Ryan Fagan)

In his 20 years as a faculty member in the Ed G. Smith College of Business, Michael Costello has learned plenty of ways to connect with and teach students at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

One of his favorite methods is to bring back his former students so those UMSL alumni can share their stories – the successes as well as the struggles – with the current crop of students. That’s why he invited Georgeann McLemore back to campus as soon as she returned from her year-long experience in Northern Ireland as part of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship program.

It was an invitation McLemore was happy to accept.

“I feel like I was one of those students not too long ago,” McLemore said. “I didn’t necessarily want to hear what somebody else had to say, especially if they were older than me, but I think hearing it from somebody who’s still within the age range, it definitely means a lot. Success isn’t just something that’s attainable in 10 to 20 years, but you can actually get it right now if you just know where to look for it and how to apply yourself.”

McLemore is a shining example of someone who has repeatedly embraced the opportunities that UMSL has presented to her, either directly or through contacts made from her time at the university. McLemore, who is from St. Louis and graduated from McCluer North High School, participated in study abroad programs that brought her to South Korea, the United Kingdom and Amsterdam.

Michael Costello (right), brought alum Georgeann McLemore to meet with Shu Schiller, the dean of the Ed G. Smith College of Business. McLemore had graduated before Schiller became dean.

After graduating from UMSL in May 2023 with a BS in information systems and technology with a focus on cybersecurity, she did an internship in the White House in the Office of Digital Strategy in the spring of 2024. She found out she had been accepted into the Fulbright U.S. Student Program while she was in Washington, D.C., so shortly after she returned home to St. Louis from the internship, she was on the move again, heading to Northern Ireland to study at Ulster University.

“When she started at UMSL, she was unaware of what was available,” Costello said. “But once someone else suggested something – and it was a peer, not faculty – it opened her eyes. So when we have a chance to bring someone like Georgeann back to the classroom, we want the students to meet them, to get up and introduce themselves and find out why they’re here.”

McLemore was excited to share her experience.

“When I came to UMSL, I didn’t really think study abroad was a thing that I could do because in my mind, you had to have money to do those things, so I just didn’t think it was possible for me,” she said. “My professors and my advisors told me, ‘No, you can do this. Just look into it and apply!’ And I’d always say I would but then I just never did. But then my friend actually did it, and I said, ‘Oh, so this is something we could do, because we’re from the same place. We grew up together. We went to high school together. We went to college together. This is something she can do. She’s from where I’m from. I’ve been to her house, and she’s been to mine. I know how she lives, so this is for people like us.’ I think that’s what it took, just seeing somebody who’s like me, who comes from where I come from, and they actually did it. Then I realized, OK, I can do this too.”

McLemore was able to share more good news with the students in Costello’s Law of International Commercial Transactions class. Less than two weeks after returning to St. Louis from Northern Ireland, she was offered and accepted a job with the Partnership for Public Service, a non-partisan group founded in 2001 that focuses on inspiring Americans about careers in public service.

McLemore will be doing graphic design work for the group, helping to redesign the website to make it more user-friendly and build pages for the new projects the group is developing. The group is based in Washington, D.C., which means McLemore was recently on the move again. She left for D.C. on Nov. 1 and started her new job two days later.

“It feels really good,” McLemore said. “It feels very validating. All of this work, everything I’ve done, it actually led to something. It led to an actual job. I was contemplating what I might do if I don’t get a job. I thought maybe I’ll just go to school again.”

She paused and looked across the table at Costello.

“I remember you told me, ‘What does your resume say about you? Your resume has to tell a story.’ Mine was saying, ‘She’s a perpetual student.’ I need actual experience. I don’t just want internship or school for another two years. I want something that’s concrete, and I’m very grateful for this opportunity, because all my hard work paid off, and it’s actually led to a full-time job. I’m a professional now, no longer a student.”

She’s an UMSL professional success story.

“The fact that she’s grown so much is just the story I want other students to see,” Costello said. “I want them to say, ‘I’m like you, and I can do this, too.’ I guest lecture at other universities, and I see those students feel entitled to all these opportunities. I feel that some of our students feel not as entitled. I want them to realize that, ‘No, this is for all of you.’ When we go to embassies on study abroad trips, they’ll ask our students, ‘Why don’t you kids apply for these roles?’ And they’ll say, ‘We didn’t know those might be available to us.’ In a way, they’re self-limiting, and I’m trying to get them to the point where they know they can ask for these jobs, and they’re entitled to be considered, too. That self-limiting, I’m trying to bust that bubble.”