Providing a Home Away From Home

Jill (Anderson) Christopher ’01, West Fargo, N.D.
Major: Business with a concentration in Organizational Communication

The Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Red River Valley provides support for families whose children are receiving medical care in the Fargo-Moorhead area. As executive director, Christopher works with development, the RMHC board, and various internal departments to keep the Ronald McDonald house open and providing care to families.

What’s your favorite part about what you do?

I love the mission. I love getting to meet the families and being there when they’re really stressed. My family had an experience with the Ronald McDonald House, which is how I got interested in the organization. And I think when you get to be a part of making someone else’s stressful situation with their sick child a little bit easier, it’s just really rewarding. I really enjoy that part of my job.

What do you like about the Fargo-Moorhead area?

I like the smallness but yet the bigness of it – just the fact that there are a lot of things to do without the traffic and busyness. When I was in Minneapolis with my husband and children, we felt like we only knew our co-workers and former classmates in the area, so we came back to be a part of a community where you can really get to know people and be a part of it all.

What’s the best career advice you have received?

The best piece of career advice I got was from Jim Cermak, a former professor at Concordia, and he said to just be nice to everyone. He talked about getting to know the janitors and all of the different people at different levels of an organization because you never know whose help you’re going to need. Being nice and taking time to appreciate everybody at every level can really help you when you’re in a jam, which has definitely played out for me during my career.

How do you stay involved with Concordia as an alumna?

I’m a mentor with the Offutt School of Business, which is the most active way I stay connected to the students and campus community. But, of course, the parades and different Homecoming activities are always on the calendar.

Why do you think the liberal arts are important?

You have to know a little about a lot of things when you’re out in the world and just because your major is business there are a lot of things outside of that you will need to know. The liberal arts allows students to become well-rounded no matter what their major is. The beauty of the liberal arts education is that it prepares you for anything and prepares you for a role you may not have seen for yourself when you graduated.

What piece of advice do you have for current Cobbers?

If you think you’re interested in an organization or field of study, try to intern or job shadow there to get more information and see if you really like it. We’ve found here at Ronald McDonald House with our interns that we’ve had students where it cements that it’s the job for them and we’ve had students were it cements that it is not the job for them. So the more people you can talk to about what it’s really like in a position can be really beneficial to finding what you’re really passionate about because it might not be what you thought it would be.

^{Published April 2019}