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7

PROFILE OF A GRADUATE 

Dana Jones / 

Communicator

“The key to success is networking.” Since graduating from 

Amarillo High School in 1999 and earning a degree in broadcast 
journalism from Texas Tech University, Dana Jones has 

 

networked her way from TV reporting gigs in Lubbock and 
Amarillo all the way to hosting big time interviews for the Dallas 
Cowboys organization. 

If Dana were to analyze her career, the turning point might be 

a fateful job interview for a position with the professional hockey 
team, the Phoenix Coyotes. Three hundred people interviewed 
for positions that day and Dana knew it was no time to blend 
in. Job candidates were asked to compose an infomercial about 
the team’s new arena. Dana volunteered to go fi rst. “Anyone who 
went after me started pulling lines that I said, so I was so glad I 
went fi rst,” she says. “I was the only one hired that weekend.”

Eventually, the contact who hired Dana in Phoenix went to 

work for the Dallas Cowboys. Homesick, Dana moved back to 
Texas, called up her old contact and asked for a little nudge to 
help her get a foot in the door of the Cowboys organization. 
It worked and Dana took an entry level position, knowing 
she could work—and network—her way to something bigger 
and better. 

Today, Dana sells season tickets and suite rentals for the 

Cowboys as a Senior Sales Consultant. She also interviews 
players, cheerleaders, celebrities and even Jerry Jones himself 
as a contributor to the organization’s female-targeted website 
www.5pointsblue.com. No, she’s not one of 

those Jones’, but she 

is making a name for herself in the organization. 

Through it all, Dana says she’s learned being a good 

communicator is really about being a good listener. “Anytime 
you communicate with the people who can make decisions 
about your career, pay attention to how they communicate with 
you,” says Dana. “I always tell people don’t burn bridges and be 
sure to network as much as you can.”  

evolve. In a world where the pace of technological change is moving faster than ever before, 
Russell made sure to learn a skill that will serve him well, far, far into the future: computer 
coding. “It changes the way you work and makes you so much more effi cient,” he says. 

Coding is to computer software what DNA is to the human body. Code drives websites 

and apps, and is the language that operates computers, cell phones, tablets and more. 
Coding is said to be the most important job skill of the future, the foundation for literally 
everything driving the technological advancements that will defi ne generations. “I didn’t 
start coding until 2011 and now it’s the only thing I do. It’s super effective because there are 
all these resources out there, but you have to know how to use them,” says Russell.

Now back home, which is equal parts Texas and laboratory, Russell is hard at work on 

his doctorate dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin, detailing research which 
could help match potential organ donors with transplant recipients. Russell’s approach to 
his dissertation is in itself an experiment. “At UT, one of the bonuses is that we have a super 
computer, the 14th largest computer in the world. It’s free for me to use with pretty much 
an infi nite amount of time,” he says. “As a country, we’re spending billions of 
dollars collecting all this data and putting it online, so I’d like to construct a 
dissertation basically for free, using online and computer resources.”

Coding is just one, albeit a very important, example of the kind of skills 

dictated by a rapidly changing world and workforce. The Future of Jobs Report 
from the World Economic Forum estimates 65 percent of today’s elementary 
school children will work in jobs that don’t yet exist. The report predicts the 
pace of change in the job market will accelerate even more by 2020, with 
steep rises in jobs built around business, fi nance, computers and math. For 
young scholars, that forecasts a future where the only thing predictable about 
their career prospects will be unpredictability. In Amarillo ISD, the Profi le 
of a Graduate initiative will help make sure students are ready for anything. 
“We want our scholars to be ready to meet the demands of the workforce, 
but, conversely, we want the community and local workforce to be ready for 
them,” says Dr. West. 

“We’re still going to reinforce the core academics with as much dedication 

as we always have. But with the Profi le of a Graduate we’re also going to make 
sure our scholars leave us with the skills that match what is needed in the 
global workforce.”

About the time Russell was fi nishing his master’s at New York University, a 

friend was getting a bio startup going. The company would focus on carrier 
genetic testing; science that can determine a person’s risk of passing more 
than 300 genetic diseases to their offspring. Once again, Russell jumped at an 
opportunity to grow as a scientist. “That was a really cool experience. It was 
the fi rst startup I had ever been a part of,” says Russell. “I learned a lot more 
and worked with different technologies.” 

Russell left Recombine just as it was being sold to a private equity fi rm.  

Eventually, Russell hopes to start up his own startup. As evidenced throughout 
his career as both scientist and student, that will require a healthy profi ciency 
in thinking critically, communicating, collaborating and contributing. 
“It’s a useful skill to be able to marshal your force, fi nd collaborators and 
cofounders and network and talk. Eventually, you’ll fi nd a critical mass that 
will help you get things done.” 

“The key to success 
is networking.”

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