Elevate Student Spotlight
Meet Larry Jordan: From Argonne to Illinois Tech
Argonne National Laboratory intern. Four industry certifications. And he hasn’t even started his first semester yet.
Larry Jordan arrives at Illinois Tech this fall with a resume most students spend four years building: an internship at Argonne National Laboratory, four industry certifications, a cybersecurity portfolio on GitHub, and a habit of lifting others as he climbs. He plans to pursue his B.S. in Information Technology and Management with a Plus One M.S. in Cyber Forensics and Security — and through Elevate, every experience he takes on will count toward verified skills, badges, and the career he’s already mapping. We sat down with Larry to hear his story.
“You can earn all the certifications and build yourself up — but what does it mean if you didn’t help anyone else?”
Larry Jordan · Incoming Student, Information Technology & Management
Q. Tell us about yourself — and what you’ll study at Illinois Tech.
“I started at City Colleges of Chicago at Olive-Harvey College in mechanical engineering, but cybersecurity jumped out at me — software development, cloud, pen testing, networking … so many paths. I attended a boot camp, passed Security+ on my first attempt after studying ten hours a day for three weeks, and it helped me break a mold and surpass what I thought I was capable of. This fall I plan to do the Plus One program: a B.S. in Information Technology and Management and an M.S. in Cyber Forensics and Security.”
Q. What did you take away from your summer at Argonne?
“We built a radiation detection system with Raspberry Pi, toured the Aurora supercomputer, and visited the Advanced Photon Source — the brightest X-ray light in the world. Argonne really opened my eyes: you can research AI, quantum, so many things. Research can be a path for me — I’ll be applying for the SULI internship and the Open Quantum Initiative fellowship.”
Q. What made you choose Illinois Tech?
“I narrowed it down to two schools, and when I visited Illinois Tech I said, ‘Wow.’ Even though it’s a smaller campus, it felt bigger than what it is. I felt the love — people willing to reach out, pull me up, and take me to different levels. People I emailed actually knew my name. I felt like I already belonged.”
“I felt the love — people willing to reach out, pull me up, and take me to different levels. I felt like I already belonged.”
Q. Where is your career headed?
“Chicago is home — I want to anchor my roots here. I want to start in corporate fintech as a cloud security engineer, then build toward running my own managed security services practice. The dream is to be the person who hires other people.”
Q. What strength are you bringing with you?
“I can adapt to most things, but I also know my limitations. I have no shame saying, ‘I don’t know everything — but I can figure it out, or find someone who knows it better than me.’ Even PhDs at Argonne will tell you ‘I don’t know that.’ Don’t oversell what you can’t deliver.”
Q. Outside the classroom, what should people know about you?
“I’m a lot more easygoing than people might assume — always willing to help. I volunteer with America Needs You, doing career services work for first-generation college students: resumes, mock interviews, headshots. Adversity builds character — going through it made me appreciate all the great things I’m receiving now.”
Why Elevate
Larry is exactly what Elevate is built for. The internships, research, and certifications he’s pursuing aren’t extras on top of his degree — through Elevate, they become verified experiences, badges, and a portfolio employers can see, backed by an Elevate Success Coach from day one and the Elevate Commitment behind it all. He’s starting his Illinois Tech journey already elevated — and Elevate will keep him climbing.
Elevate, Your Future.
Every Illinois Tech student can build a story like Larry’s — start yours today.
Interview conducted by Illinois Tech Career Services; answers edited and condensed for clarity.
