Cougar Scholars is a monthly series highlighting Chicago State student-athletes through the lens of their studies and professional pursuits. This month features track & field and cross country senior Justin Johnson.
Read more from our previous scholar-athletes here:
For Justin Johnson, real life is setting in.
"Life is moving a lot faster now," Johnson said. "It's a little scary. Here it comes. I have to be ready for it. But I do have a lot of stress off my shoulders, because I already have my job lined up."
Johnson, a Chicago State track & field and cross country senior graduating this month, will join Hyatt Hotels as an Associate Cybersecurity Analyst.
For Johnson, the job is the ideal fit. He's been interning at Hyatt since June. At CSU, he's majoring in Computer Science and fell in love with the field early at Largo High School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
"The turning point for me was taking a rudimentary website development class," Johnson said. "It was very simple HTML, which is the language websites are coded in.
"That was the first time I learned something where I could see the immediate benefits of learning it. That was the gravitation. I could never see myself doing anything else."
So when Johnson enrolled at Chicago State, Computer Science served as his no-brainer choice — and his classes have mostly geared him up for the professional road ahead.
"In programming classes, I've had a lot of professors who are willing to spend extra time with me," Johnson said. "CSU has prepared me for what I'm doing now."
Having also run with CSU's track & field and cross country programs, Johnson chose Chicago State in part because of its size, and it's served him well.
"Chicago State was always the place I was meant to be at," Johnson said. "Since it's a small school, I got to know all of my administrators and professors on a personal level. There were a lot of opportunities that I feel like I wouldn't get at a bigger school. It fit the type of person I was when I came out of high school, and I've developed into a better person because of it."
That preparation was put to the test this past summer, when Johnson started interning with Hyatt, which he sees as an elite workplace.
"What I really enjoy about Hyatt is the work environment," Johnson said. "Going in, I was super anxious and had a lot of questions. But my team was open and encouraged questions. They gave me positive reinforcement and chances to grow and learn other parts of the operation.
"Once, all of the interns had to give a presentation about their role. I thought that was boring, since everyone does the same thing every year. So what I did was a presentation on the environment of Hyatt."
Now so well-versed in cybersecurity, Johnson won't let you leave without a quick tip.
"Most ways that people get hacked is off their passwords," Johnson said. "It's not some crazy special hacker in a basement with five monitors. It's from people using the same password for everything."
Personal cybersecurity is simple, according to Johnson.
"Just use different passwords for everything."
