Sam Chiodo graduated in 2021, majoring in drama and business. He currently works in the investment field, but dreams of one day starting his own small theater.
Chiodo chose UD for the opportunity to form meaningful connections with students and professors alike. He said, “I really wanted a small school where I got to know everybody, and I wouldn’t be a number to a teacher.”
Despite coming to the university with the intention to study only business, Chiodo ended up double majoring, after he discovered his passion for theater, wanting to try everything the university had to offer. His love for theater has helped him a lot in life, as it taught him a number of invaluable skills for communicating with people.
“What drama is teaching is how to interact and how to really be able to have that conversation because when you’re on stage, you’re having a conversation with the crowd. So I use that every day when I’m talking to different clients and my coworkers, because now I know how to have a more meaningful conversation,” he said.
Chiodo’s dedication to drama is obvious when recounting the sacrifices he had to make along the way.
“I shaved my head for one of the performances that I did here … I was bald for quite some time,” he revealed.
Chiodo’s theatricality and good humor were not simply limited to the stage however. “For every final, I dressed up in a costume that was more and more ridiculous as I went through, [and] more and more fun. And that’s what I always tried to do with every final. I’d always want to give everyone a little laugh. Remind them that it’s not the end of the world,” he said.
Chiodo expressed a deep fondness for those moments of studying together with his friends. He said, “It’s simple. But just being able to stay up late at night in the Cap Bar, studying with friends, and then we all just start laughing. And then you know, now we can’t study anymore because it’s been 35 minutes of pure laughter.”
Chiodo was appreciative of all that his UD education gave him, especially in terms of the soft skills. UD has helped Chiodo in the workplace, having developed his ability to think critically and learn fast, both necessary tools for success.
He explained, “So I’m not just running around like a chicken with its head, I can actually do the things I need to do, and do them well.”
At the moment, Chiodo is working at Fidelity Investments, a financial services company, as an internal sales associate. He loves his job and wants to move up into a consultant role. However, he has not abandoned his dreams of founding a small theater one day, and maybe opening a beekeeping farm.
“Bees are important to nature and I can’t get enough, I want to open a nice little beekeeping farm that actually helps them grow,” Chiodo explains.
Or perhaps even combining the two and starting an acting troupe of bees.
“I can make them all costumes! Make my bees little costumes, and they can fly around with them. Amazing! It could be … oh my gosh, I’m thinking so much, that could be the beehive theater shaped in a beehive … the seats could be honeycombs, like it could sell honey. Oh, wow! Everything’s coming together now. It’s just that’s what I have to do,” he joked.
Whatever the future may hold, Chiodo’s creative instinct and warm demeanor are sure to aid him in all of his ambitions.
Chiodo insisted that UD students should not be afraid to go out and seize all the opportunities before them, because it is how he himself discovered theater, something he has never regretted.
He said: “So be willing to just see something that ignites something, a little bit sparks the fire, go and find it. And then to go off of that, too. Don’t be afraid to take random classes because it can really show you something that you never even knew that you liked. And then all of a sudden, that’s all you want to do with your life.”
