by M. C. Jennings | Jul 24, 2017 | Academics, Current Students, Faith Infusion, Student Spotlights, Uncategorized
McKinley Terry is a senior Management major with minors in English and History from Longview, Texas. He is interning at Alpine Church of Christ in Longview, TX as the youth ministry summer intern.
McKinley Terry
Q: What have you done in your internship so far?
So far, I have helped lead classes for middle schoolers and high schoolers in our youth group, organized mission trips and social events, and helped our students better serve others throughout their community and the state of Texas.
Q: What has been your favorite part of the internship?
My favorite part was definitely our recent mission trip to Camp of the Hills in Marble Falls, Texas. We served nearly four thousand meals that week to campers brought in by faith and community-oriented groups throughout Texas. I always loved going on this mission trip when I was in the youth group, so it was incredible to get to serve again as a leader and motivate our students to serve others.
Q: How do you see this experience aiding you in the future?
My goal is to eventually teach at the university level, so working with young adults has helped me to understand the difficulties and opportunities in reaching and mentoring them.
Q: What has grown you as an individual the most in this internship?
I have seen first-hand the difficulties that non-profits such as churches face regarding operations, budgeting, and management. Having to balance the interests and management styles of separate individuals has helped me learn how to navigate what can often be chaotic situations without growing too frustrated and inefficient.
by M. C. Jennings | Jul 12, 2017 | Academics, Careers In..., Current Students, Student Spotlights, Student Spotlights, Uncategorized
Leah Montgomery is a senior Marketing/Management double major from Abilene, Texas. This summer, Leah is interning with PFSweb.
Leah has a marketing internship this summer with PFSweb, a leading global eCommerce solutions provider.
Q: What have you done in your internship so far?
A: The main two tasks I have been working on so far are the planning of a company event and writing a blog. Along with this I help the marketing team with any projects they are working on.
Q: What has been your favorite part of the internship?
A: I’ve really enjoyed seeing the process different projects have to go through before completion. Many events and publications seem very simple from the outside but on the creation side the complexity is impressive. By watching how a team can work together to get a job done shows how important every detail is.
Q: How do you see this experience aiding you in the future?
A: This internship has shown me how important group projects are. I know, everyone dislikes group projects but that is what we should expect after we graduate: never ending group projects. They are obviously different than in classes but the aspect of working as a team to achieve the same goal is the same.
Q: What has grown you as an individual the most in this internship?
A: Writing the blog has been the most challenging. I have never written a blog before, and haven’t needed to write a paper in college for over a year. Trying to make a topic in eCommerce exciting and worth reading was difficult. The original draft looks nothing like what is published, but with the help of a team of great writers I was able to get advice and edits that helped me understand more of what was expected and how I can improve and do better next time.
Q: Do you have any tips for others?
A: If Jennifer Golden ever teaches digital marketing ever again TAKE IT. That is the most obvious example of a class that I could pull information from directly and place it into my internship. Even as simple as knowing terms and understanding more about eCommerce so I could join conversations and understand what was being discussed. By knowing the information taught in that class I had more confidence going into my internship and feeling more prepared. Great class.
Check out Leah’s blog post for PFSweb here.
by M. C. Jennings | Jun 29, 2017 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Current Students, Uncategorized
COBA students studying abroad in Leipzig, Germany, continued their coursework and site visits this week. Pictured below is the group on a typical Thursday morning sitting in a Financial Management class from 9:00 am – noon in Leipzig.
During breaks, the group has met and had the opportunity to visit with refugees from Syria and Iraq. The refugees are taking an intensive German class so they can live and work here in Germany.
Wednesday, the group went to Social Impact Leipzig, an early-stage incubator for social entrepreneurship ventures. Their host was Jennifer Pauli.
She showed the group around the location, which is primarily shared office space for firms that are participating in the incubator program. Then they heard pitches from some of the firms that are currently in the program.
One of the pitches was given by Mike from Night Bank. His firm is similar to AirB&B, but with a socially minded twist. People with unused rooms donate them to Night Bank for a specified number of nights. Night Bank books tourists and guests in the rooms and charges them a fee. Night Bank then uses 90% of the fees they collect to support aid projects around the world. One recent project was a water collection tower in Kenya. The person who donates their room to rent gets to select the project they would like their fees to support.
We’ll continue to blog about the adventures of our group in Leipzig as their time starts to wind down and another group travels to Asia. Keep checking back and share this blog with your friends!
by M. C. Jennings | Jun 27, 2017 | Academics, Current Students, Uncategorized
COBA offers students opportunities every summer to visit the world, earn course credit, and learn about international businesses by touring companies in host countries. This summer, we have students in Leipzig, Germany with Dr. Jonathan Stewart. In addition to coursework, this week students were given a video assignment while visiting Luma Lenscraft, a video production company in Leipzig. COBA’s hosts at Luma Lenscraft gave a short video workshop, taught students about translation services in Europe, and asked the students to create a one minute video about their time in Germany. The assignment was to shoot the entire video on a smart phone in a single shot.
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Luke Stevens, Taylor Spencer, John Baker and Lincoln Jones working on their video assignment.
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Mackenzie Dalton, Addy Taylor, Hunter Hays, and KayAnn Orr working on their video assignment.
Students also visited SpinLab. SpinLab is a startup incubator based in the old Spinnererei district of Leipzig and at one time, was a hub for cotton markets in Germany in the early and mid-1900’s.
The group first heard from Shawn Segundo, Online Marketing and Event Manager. He explained how SpinLab hosts 12 startups per year. Two of the twelve made their pitches to the COBA group, Shark Tank style.
The first pitch came from Andreas Dunsch of FlyNex, a drone services company that provides start to finish drone services and data analysis. The second pitch was from Sebastian Leppert of OKIKO. OKIKO is an online payment systems providing safe and intuitive payment options for children, ages 7-17. It was an educational and enlightening trip and we want to thank our hosts at Luma Lenscraft and SpinLab for welcoming our students.
Check back with us for updates from Leipzig as students visit Red Bull Arena and Porsche next week.
by Hanna Roberts | Jun 14, 2017 | Academics, Current Students, Marketing, Student Spotlights, Student Spotlights
Kate Hegi, senior, has had the amazing opportunity to intern in Denver working on the marketing side of the music industry with Denver Arts and Venues.
Kate Hegi is a senior marketing student from Fort Worth, TX. This summer Kate is interning with Denver Arts and Venues, specifically working with Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
Q: What have you done in your internship as of yet?
A: I mainly work with the sponsorship aspect of the venue. I help our sponsors activate with the concerts or events each night. So far, I have gotten to work with Coca-Cola, Chipotle, Clifbar, and many more sponsors. I also work on the ticketing process for the venues, sponsorship contracts, social media strategies and contests, and overall marketing plans for the summer.
Q: What has been your favorite part?
A: My favorite part is so hard to pick! Every time I work a concert, I say “okay, tonight is my favorite night.” Red Rocks is such a beautiful place. Being able to be outside and to bask in God’s creation almost every night is not a bad gig, to say the least.
Q: How do you see this experience aiding you in the future?
A: This experience has helped me in so many different ways. First and foremost, this job has really taught me more about sponsors, marketing, social media, and business contract law. Learning about these has been so beneficial. It has exposed me to different types of people and how to work with those types, whether that is based on age, experience, or personality.
Q: What has grown you as an individual the most in this internship?
A: Personally, the experience that has shaped me the most is simply living in a new state by myself. To be in a new place all by yourself can be intimidating and I would be lying if I said it was not hard at times. But overall it has been such a good way to really find myself and learn how to live in the real world. It’s been great!
Q: Do you have any tips for others?
A: Apply everywhere, no matter if you think it is too ‘far fetched’ or not! I never would have thought in a million years that I would actually get this internship, yet here I am, five weeks into it. Challenge yourself and I promise it will be worth it!
by M. C. Jennings | May 8, 2017 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Current Students, Faith Infusion, School of Information Technology and Computing, Uncategorized
What is your educational background?
- BBA in Business Computer Information Systems, UNT cum laude
- MS in Information Technology, UNT
Karen St. John
What is your work background?
- Worked as an Academic Advisor – ten years both graduate and undergraduate
- Computer Audit Specialist training for IRS/ Treasury department for seven years
- Started teaching at the University level in 2009
What do you teach at ACU?
Information Technology courses: Scripting, Networking, Database Administration
What committees/other duties do you have at ACU aside from teaching?
- Board member for family business – Pinecrest Cemetery in East Texas
- Wife, married 17 years (18 this May)
- Mom to six kids
The St. John Family
What drew you to teaching? Why did you want to work with students?
I have always loved to learn as much as possible. Working with students is enjoyable and rewarding.
What’s the best part of working with students?
Taking an intimidating concept, breaking it down and explaining it, and watching students have the “lightbulb” moment when it clicks.
Have you ever given up any big opportunities to keep working with students?
Turned down opportunity to work at a major bank doing anti-money laundering.
Outside of teaching, what passions and hobbies do you have?
I love to cook. We live in the country and have chickens, sheep, goats, and cattle.
Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career.
I was recognized by the Treasury department for my contribution and efforts in working with the Regulatory Audit division, which was nice. However, I am most proud that I have balanced having a big family with my career. Most of the women I went to school with had to choose one or the other.
Who is your role model, and why?
I think my Dad is my biggest role model. He has a strong work ethic, is smart, unselfish and one of the best examples of what a good Christian looks like. His professional career was that of a programmer and database administrator. He has been a song leader at church for as long as I can remember. He has been happily married to my mom for over fifty years.
Who was your most inspirational professor and why?
I was incredibly fortunate to earn my degree at UNT. I had several professors that taught me important lessons that I try to pass on to my students. Dr. Steve Guynes taught me that the way to look good is to make everyone around you look good.
What is something that students might be surprised to find out about you?
I learned handwriting analysis for a project in a government class once. And I am colorblind.
What would you really want students and alums to know about you?
I feel incredibly blessed to be working at ACU. I love to come to work every day! The students are fantastic. The faculty and staff are wonderful to work with.
