FE AT U R E
Mackenzie Miller ‘18, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is a writer and researcher based in Washington, D.C.
business
You don’t need a business degree to be a successful business leader, but it sure can help.
It’s a lesson that five Hesston College graduates, who arrived on campus years ago with varying skills and areas of interest, learned during their short time in Kansas. Perhaps it was the affirmation of the late business instructor Bill Mason who piqued the curiosity of these graduates. For some, it was the desire to make a difference in the world but not knowing where to start. And for others, choosing to study business never happened during their time at Hesston. Instead, the liberal arts education led them to pursue sports, art and law before finding their way to business after graduation. Regardless of their motives, these five graduates are now finding success in the business world, learning to merge their passions with the demands of a changing economy, all while prioritizing people – a value many of them cite as being ingrained in them during their time at Hesston College. For AY Young ’12, Emily Stutzman ’05, Daniel Penner ’09, Sandhya Prakash ’03 and Isaac Shue ’07, prioritizing people means promoting sustainability through music, providing brand design for diverse bodies, making the reality of climate change accessible to all, confronting personal biases, encouraging artistic expression and so much more. “Business today is so much different than it was 10 years ago because of globalization and because of the internet,” said Debbie McAlister, director of Hesston College’s School of Management. “There’s so much more competition now and things are constantly changing, and so you have to keep up with those changes.” These five Hesston College graduates are doing just that.
8 | HESSTON COLLEGE TODAY | 2021 // ISSUE 2
