Drew Caldwell starting 'dream' IT career before graduating

There’s nothing better than having your dream job before you graduate from college.

Indiana University Kokomo senior Drew Caldwell looks forward to growing into new roles at Red Gold after he graduates in May with a degree in computer science and math.

“I don’t know what title my dream job is, but just being an influential person there would be my goal,” said Caldwell, from Kokomo. “I started there as an intern in the finance department one summer, then did a summer in IT, and they kept me on.”

Currently he writes code to create reports that are sent to leaders throughout the tomato processing company, which is based in Elwood.

“I grew up around this area, so staying local when I graduate is ideal,” he said. “I’m very thankful for that, instead of having to commute to Indianapolis every day.”

It’s not the career Caldwell had imagined when he first enrolled at IU Kokomo; he started as a math and secondary education major. He chose those majors after his work to achieve the SAT math score he needed for scholarships.

“When I got the score I needed, I decided if I could teach myself math, I could teach others,” he said. “Then as I got farther into my classes, I decided I wanted to go farther into the computational side and changed to computer science.”

Faculty members encouraged his academic decisions, he said. Christopher Caruvana, assistant professor of mathematics, taught his initial math classes and influenced him to major in computer science.

“A lot of what I do in IT is provide solutions for people’s problems,” he said. “I enjoy helping them get through their problems in a way they may not be able to do on their own. It makes people happy when I can help them solve these problems.”

He researched with Amelia Tebbe, associate professor of mathematics, looking at action graphs and how they relate to Catalan numbers. They presented their findings at the IU Kokomo undergraduate research symposium. He’s also been a math tutor on campus for three years.

Caldwell said Awny Alnusair, professor of informatics and computer science, was his role model in computer science.

“The best part of IU Kokomo was the small class sizes, and getting to know the professors,” he said. “They became very supportive. I felt like I could come to them about almost everything.”

In addition to his classroom activities, Caldwell was on the cross country and track & field teams, which made a big difference in his student experience.

“Without being on that team, I would probably be going to classes and leaving immediately afterward,” he said. “Being on the team helped me make some friends.”

A distance runner, he qualified for the NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championship as a sophomore, running the 600 at the finals in South Dakota.

“Athletics allowed me to travel to many states,” he said. “Running at the nationals was super cool. I met a lot of people from across the country. That’s something I probably would not have done on my own.”

Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.