From time to time, we like to showcase a new SNC grad who’s entered the workplace or grad school. Success stories like these are pretty common. In fact, 95 percent of recent alumni who responded to a survey said they were employed, in grad school or doing service work within nine months of graduating.

Hometown: Medford, Wis.
Major: Bachelor of Arts in economics and a minor in philosophy
Plans after graduation: Seth will be attending Marquette University to pursue a master’s in economics.

How did you decide what to study at SNC?

I came in knowing I wanted to do economics and I was looking for a double major for a while. Originally I was a double major in philosophy because I had been thinking about law school for a long time, and then I had a change of heart my junior year when I got exposed to grad school opportunities for economics and I pivoted there. That led me to drop philosophy to a minor and channel my focus toward economics more. What philosophy offers is great in tandem with other things, and it influenced how I think about economics.

What were your experiences outside the classroom?

I was always big into music and theatre, so a significant one for me was Knight Theatre, the student theatre organization. I got to produce and run our show as a senior this past year! Knight Theatre is a really unique student organization because it’s year-round. I experienced a lot of growth through it, because you’re never fully prepared for taking on a full leadership position like that. I’ve grown a ton as a leader, whether it’s knowing how to manage my organizational skills and time, or even just how to handle disagreements with people in a student organization. I got to facilitate those and I feel like I gained so much in terms of what it means to be a leader. And I feel so much more prepared for the workforce after having an experience like that and growing through that already.

Knights on Broadway, one of the performing groups on campus, was a big thing for me as well. What’s really cool about it is it’s a pretty high-end performing group but I think maybe only two people in there are music majors. The rest are people from all across campus coming together to put on polished Broadway performances. You don’t get that at a lot of other schools. I met a lot of friends and got exposure to different fields through my extracurriculars. I think one of the draws to St. Norbert was that I was able to participate in and do things like that without having to sacrifice my economics or my studies in philosophy or anything like that. I was able to do my academics, but I was also able to still participate in something that was a big part of my high school career and life in general.

Any people who made a big impact on you while you were here?

Dr. Marc von der Ruhr had a specific impact on me. It’s honestly because of him that I pivoted toward grad school. Previously I was terrified of math and I thought “Nope. No, I’m only going to do what I need to do.” But I think taking his econometrics course really helped open my eyes to new ways to approach it. It’s because of that class and because of his guidance that I pivoted toward my master’s degree.

Meeting with him and the other faculty I had here really helped me work through the pros and cons of going to grad school. I felt like they gave me a very clear and honest vision of what grad school would give me. Beyond that, they put me in contact with an SNC grad who went through the same program that I’m doing now. What’s been cool about that is I’ve met with him three times, so I’ve been able to build a relationship with an SNC alumnus who went through the program thanks to a professor helping me make that connection. Now we’ve been able to build a relationship there and he’s been able to help me decide what classes to take and talk about what he got out of certain classes when he took them.

What are you going to remember most about St. Norbert after you graduate?

I think the thing I’m going to miss the most is the liberal arts experience. I got a lot out of that, not only being able to get a good degree in economics but also taking classes outside of that, like an ancient wisdom course I took, which is going to stick with me forever. So it’s those extra things that I got from that liberal arts exposure that I think are going to stick with me after St. Norbert.