Meet Allison J. Althoff: One Millennial Journalist For One Humanity

Allison hesitated briefly after my very first interview question about her job.

“I am an online editor at Today’s Christian Woman at Christianity Today. I also work at Wheaton College as the Journalism certificate program assistant. I have a few other jobs as well… You want me to go into that…?”

Turns out, here is a 24-year-old female journalist with four different jobs. Along with her two main job titles, Allison is an intern at the Navigators’ 20s Mission: Chicago, and is a blogger at the Chicago Tribune Company for Chicago Now on a site called “A Daily Miracle.” Moreover, she was just recently hired to teach at Trinity Christian College for a section of public speaking, starting next spring. In the midst of her busy schedule juggling four different titles, she finds rest and refreshment through her involvement at Bloomingdale Alliance Church in Glendale Heights, Illinois.

Allison did not see these four jobs coming. Allison’s passion for journalism has grown since high school, and she knew it was a career that she wanted to pursue during her time at Wheaton College (Ill.) as a Communications major. Although Wheaton College offered both she and her twin sister a great college experience, Allison entered Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism following her graduation in 2011 to continue developing her pathway to become a working journalist. On the day after her graduation from Medill with a masters of science in journalism, she was hired by Christianity Today. Soon after that, she was asked to assist Professor Tim Morgan with the Journalism program at Wheaton College. Her efforts and passion to pursue her dreams are now opening new gates of opportunity for aspiring undergraduate journalists at Wheaton.

Allison’s love for people, traveling, music, and ministry have been the driving forces behind her involvement in her various jobs, including her time as a concert manager at Nashville during her college years. Through it all, Allison never stopped learning to embrace independence as a Millennial, and at the same time treasure the communities around her. However, it wasn’t the easiest for her to walk alone as a graduate student in Chicago during her time in Northwestern. She says that it was in the “uncomfortable” journey she walked in that she learned to lean onto God’s presence fully and embrace singleness to live a whole life.

There have been a number of communities Allison has gotten to encounter during her time as a journalist. Out of the many communities, she reminisces about her time visiting the Honduras community of Los Cedros last spring as the most formative experience. The community taught her to become more comfortable with herself, to trust God for provision one day at a time, and to become more selfless.

Moreover, her meeting of missionary Betsy Hake in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, has allowed Allison to learn how to live as a woman of God, and also ignited her passion for stopping human trafficking worldwide (click here to read Allison’s article “The Hope Dealers of Honduras”). Allison is currently working on a book proposal about sex trafficking, and what Millenials in American church can do to stop it.

“Dream big!” says Allison. “Nothing is impossible with God.”

She encourages fellow Millennials to start writing down their wishes then go out there to do them:

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.