Name: Jacob Kosior
Hometown: Indianapolis, IN
Current location: Chicago, IL
What were you involved with at Princeton?
While at Princeton I was a member of BodyHype, Triangle, and Tower.
Senior year I served as Class Social Chair, which entailed running booze all over campus for 2010 Happy Hours. That ended up being great training for planning Reunions!
What's your favorite memory of Princeton?
It sounds cliche, but too many to count. BodyHype initiations and tech week will always hold a special place in my heart, as will the final Triangle show during Reunions. Nights at Tower with the Old Gang and playing croquet on the Tower lawn after turning in my thesis are also great memories.
The memories I enjoy most are from freshman year, meeting new people and running around campus not knowing what we were getting ourselves into. Those memories were a lot like life when I first moved to Chicago with two of my best friends from Princeton, Zach Zimmerman and Halcyon Person. We had this whole big city in front of us and didn't know what to expect. It was like freshman year all over again... just without the free food and booze.
What have you been up to in the five years (!) since graduation? What are you currently doing? What has your path been like since college? What's next?
After graduation I moved to Chicago where I completed a two-year Project 55 Fellowship at Center on Halsted, Chicago's LGBT community center, where I served as the organization's Director of Special Events & Volunteers.
In 2012 I enrolled in graduate school at the University of Illinois-Chicago to study urban and regional planning. I graduated in 2014 with my Masters in Urban Planning & Policy with a focus on economic development and real estate finance.
I now work in multifamily real estate in Chicago and serve as both a Senior Consultant with AMG Real Estate Advisors and the Director of Operations & Business Development for our brokerage, Luxury Living Chicago Realty. We provide consultative services for multifamily developers in Chicago including floor plan review, pro-forma analysis, and market reporting, and leasing.
Basically I get to help developers plan their residential high-rises in downtown Chicago!
Time will tell what's next for me. I'm very lucky to have a great group of Princeton friends in Chicago, a very supportive partner in my boyfriend, Paul, and a job that allows me to continually get involved in new projects.
What about your life now would your sophomore-year self be most surprised by?
Surprised isn't the right word... but my sophomore-year self would probably be disappointed that my pop music career never took off as planned.
Other than that, sophomore year Jacob would be surprised that life after college moves even faster than our time spent on campus.
In the 5 years since we graduated I have worked 4 jobs, appeared on a reality TV show, got a dog, got rid of said dog, lived with my best friends, lived with my boyfriend, saw both of my siblings get married, earned a Masters degree, welcomed my first niece, and bought a condo in Chicago.
Cramming all of that into 5 years makes me feel like college life was actually pretty slow and reminds me to appreciate the day-to-day a bit more.
What's a lesson/belief/idea/skill you've learned since graduating?
My mantra has always been that "everything happens for a reason" and since graduation that motto has become even more true.
In 2005, I wasn't sure where I wanted to go to college and what passions I wanted to pursue, so I took a year off and ended up with the Class of 2010 instead of the Class of 2009. I attribute a lot of things in my life to that one decision, none of which I could have predicted at the time.
I left my post-college fellowship without another job lined up and briefly worked as a temp for my current company, not knowing all of the opportunities that would open up for me down the road. I wavered on going to graduate school and turned down all of my offers, not knowing that doing so would prompt an even better offer from a great program that kept me in Chicago.
Most of all, there are some truly amazing people who came into my life both in and after college who remain with me today and I still believe there is a reason we met and became friends.
Anything else you want the class to know?
I really enjoyed serving as the Reunions Co-Chair for our Class. I think Brendan would agree that it was difficult at times to work a 50 or 60 hour week and have to fit in Reunions planning late at night or in the middle of a work day, but it was all worth it in the end. Serving as Reunions Co-Chairs was a great opportunity to stay engaged with our classmates as well as the on-campus team who make Reunions happen.
I hope that everyone had a great time on campus and visiting with friends during our 5th. And I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to more of you!