Andrés Herrera, a student athlete with a huge passion for business
Andrés Herrera arrived in August 2021 as a student athlete at the University of Mount Olive, one of North Carolina's leading private institutions. Mount Olive offers 40 academic programs, and Andrés went toward business administration in the Robert L. Tillman School of Business.
"In high school I took the IB diploma and for that degree you had to choose between business management or psychology, I chose business management and realized it was what I liked", Andrés said.
Mount Olive's business management program includes classes such as accounting and fundamentals of management, where there is an introduction to the world of operations, marketing and human resources. But beyond the traditional, the university includes classes that address innovative and current topics such as Management Information Systems, which according to Andrés' experience, "is like a combination of business management and computer information, so you see everything that has to do with business but from a technological side".
After this experience, he found a new passion, technology and computer systems, so a few months ago he decided to change his major to Computer Information Systems, which is within the business management career, but now with "much more focus on how business works at a digital level and the types of systems and software that can be developed to promote them".
For him, this new stage is an added value that will expand his job opportunities in the future, since he will not only have general management knowledge, but also be able to create applications, develop technological products, know about data analysis, create web pages, manage different types of programming and even enter the world of cybersecurity and e-commerce.
"One of the things that struck me most about Mount Olive is that the professors care that you are successful, that you progress as a student and professional", in fact, his professors in alliance with the institution have advised him in the development of a resume that will be competitive once he graduates and enters the job market.
He is currently part of three extracurricular activities: he is a member of the Future Business Leaders of America Collegiate (FBLA) organization, he is an intern at a company called Liberty Tax and a few months ago applied to be a "Campus Tour Guide".
Future Business Leaders of America is the world's largest business and technical career student organization. Each year it helps more than 230,000 members prepare in business to become community-minded business leaders in a global society.
In his experience, "because it's a nationwide organization, every college has its own group of students in the organization and there are different events throughout the year that you go to and get to know students for networking."
Future Business Leaders of America offers a wide variety of conferences each year at a regional, state and national level. Andrés recently traveled to Greensboro to attend the annual Fall Leadership Development Conference in North Carolina and is preparing to attend next semester's State Leadership Conference, which will bring together many universities in Charlotte.
On the other hand, through his institution he managed to get an internship at Liberty Tax, a company that offers professional income tax preparation and online tax filing services.
"I'm helping them with the digital marketing part in social networks and obviously that helps me for my resume and also to have the experience not only in the theoretical part of what I'm seeing in college, but already putting into practice everything I'm learning," Andrés indicated.
Last summer he applied to be a "Campus Tour Guide" and although it is an activity that falls outside the scope of his career, it allows him to put into practice his discursive skills, his ability to sell ideas and expand his network of contacts.
Finally, Andrés does not miss the opportunity to encourage those who dream of pursuing a career in business to "try new things and experiment", to seek opportunities beyond the academic field to broaden their knowledge and begin to have contact with the real world.
To study business administration it is enough to set a goal and do your best to achieve it. During these last three semesters, Andrés assures that he has grown as a person and the Mount Olive campus has become a special place for him, "if you have the opportunity, I invite you to come and see for yourself," he concluded.
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