July 17, 2026
Meghan O'Toole
Skills from The Stentor helped Milagros Velez ’26 land a career in design
For transfer student Milagros Velez ’26, finding the right creative job meant building on her artistic skills through hands-on experience.
As a new media art and design major with a communication minor, Velez knew she wanted a career that combined creativity with precision. After transferring from the College of Lake County, she sought out ways to flex her creative skills and landed at Lake Forest College’s student-run newspaper, The Stentor.
Working on The Stentor gave Velez hands-on experience with layout design, where attention to detail and careful organization became part of her daily routine. Those same skills helped her land a position as a Production Artist at Hand2Mind, an educational toy and publishing company that creates learning materials and interactive toys for students, parents, and teachers.
“I knew I wanted to do something visual,” Velez said. “I really liked what I was doing with The Stentor, and those layout and design skills helped me in this role.”
In her new position, Velez designs layouts for catalogs, teacher and student guides, and product sell sheets. While most of her work focuses on production and print materials, she also contributes occasional graphic design projects. The responsibilities felt familiar from the start.
Velez’s interest in hands-on learning led her to completing two internships, which she secured with the help of her career advisor in the Gorter Family Career Advancement Center. She first worked with SolarSPELL on graphic design projects before interning at PurposeBuilt Brands, where she gained experience creating both digital and print designs while learning more about production work.
Looking ahead, Velez is excited to continue developing her production design skills while learning from an experienced creative team. She is especially eager to work on the company’s catalogs and appreciates Hand2Mind’s commitment to supporting education and navigating industry challenges. For Velez, the position is another step toward turning her passion for visual storytelling into a career.
“I am excited to start gaining experience and start getting to work on fun catalogues,” she said. “It excites me to be able to learn from a really talented team.”