Navigating culture starts at home

Emmy initially came to Northwestern to play volleyball for the Raiders, but she quickly fell in love with the small-town college environment and built a strong network of relationships that made NWC feel like home. In addition to helping her team place as NAIA national runner-up in 2023, Emmy has enjoyed her work in the athletic department office and as a teaching assistant for one of her business professors.

Working differences
I’ve always loved to travel, and at first that’s why I chose to study international business. But after beginning work in people operations at Diamond Vogel Paints in Orange City, I’ve started to focus less on the traveling aspect of business and more on knowing how to navigate cultural differences wherever I’m at. No matter where I end up in the business world, I’m going to be working with people who are different from me in a multitude of ways. Studying cultural variations in business will help me become better prepared for meeting that challenge.

Helping students thrive
The whole business department has this innate feeling of wanting to see their students succeed. Faculty care about each person as an individual rather than a nameless face taking their class. Northwestern has rigorous academics, but the business professors truly care about making sure that students are learning, understanding and thriving in their classes.

Life in God’s kingdom
At Northwestern, I’ve learned what it means to be part of the kingdom of God by surrounding myself with people who are strong in their faith. At the same time, I’ve also learned how to stay strong in my own beliefs, especially once I leave Northwestern. Not only do we as students grow in academics, athletics and our faith, but we are taught how to be good stewards of the gifts God has given us and how to be servant leaders like Jesus.

Loving your neighbor
In the Bible, we are called to “love our neighbor,” and that’s something that has been encouraged by my professors and coaches time and time again. “Loving your neighbor” is the core of international business as well, because we must love our neighbor in order to have beneficial interactions with them and to build relationships. It’s these values that I hope to bring with me wherever I land in the business world after graduation.