Kayleen Yacyk, a senior marketing major with a concentration in digital marketing and analytics and a minor in communication at the University of Connecticut School of Business, has been named a 2025 Student Hall of Fame Fellow.
The Hopewell Valley Regional High School graduate began her college career as a member of the Business Connections Learning Community. During the summer of her sophomore year, she traveled with the BCLC to Sweden and Denmark to study sustainable and international business.
She credits these experiences, along with the guidance of the UConn School of Business, as key factors in securing two internships: one with UConn Athletics as an athletic marketing intern, and another with Rita’s Italian Ice as a marketing intern.
Yacyk became a teaching assistant for the Career Development in Business course, where she finds it “especially rewarding to help others grow professionally and gain confidence in their job search.”
As an assistant coach for the Special Olympics, she looks to brings light and energy to the athletes while also learning from their strength and joy. “Building these connections and seeing the bonds I develop with the athletes and their families is so rewarding, especially when they accomplish something they once thought impossible,” she says.
Yacyk was raised in a family of educators. Her father, Ron, is a marketing teacher and her mother, Amy, is a lifelong special education teacher, both in the Hamilton Township School District.
Inspired by them, Yacyk volunteers at the Windham Heights After School Program, mentoring elementary students. She also works as a substitute paraeducator at Mansfield Elementary School.
