We asked some of the brightest folks from within the community to reflect back on their days in school and to share with us a story of when they learned a particularly important or impactful lesson. We’ve shared highlights below.

Seth Polfus

During my undergraduate career, I minored in photography at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. During this time I had the opportunity to learn from two photographer professors who taught me how to take photos with meaning, rather than thinking about social media value or color grading style. I believe learning from this perspective really gave me a foundation for photography in which I do business portrait work, but also take a wide variety of photos of the world around me. And in both situations, I am using the lesson I learned of thinking about how to capture the shot to convey the meaning I want to before I press the shutter button down. Read more>>

Chloe Elise

I remember moving into my college dorm my freshman year of school and my mom dragging me to the financial aid office. Having a conversation about money for college was the last thing I wanted to do. It sounded embarrassing and boring, so I convinced my mom to go in without me. They needed me to sign off on everything, so I ran into the office, didn’t even look at all the paperwork or how much money I was taking out for loans, and signed my name on the dotted line. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Read more>>

Billy Whittaker

Growing up, my mom and dad had decided, just as I would be entering pre-k, to begin homeschooling my siblings and myself. Personally, I was homeschooled up to the age of 15 and then began taking courses at our local community college for both high school and college credit (a.k.a dual enrollment or dual credit), as did many of my homeschooled peers. Read more>>

Alicia Beller

When I look back on my college experience, I don’t think it was one particular lesson, but many lessons I learned while I earned my degree that have helped me in my career. I think the main skills/habits I gained from college would be time management, the importance of follow through, working well with all different types of people and resilience. Read more>>

Nick Morrett

Being a music major and a musical theater major in college you had to learn anything and everything about the business that you could. When I was a junior, I had the opportunity to go to New York and audition for the national tour of Jesus Christ superstar. I ended up making it all the way through to the final callback. Read more>>

Bobby Marsden

11th grade. The class was an English elective called “Myth and Legend”. Growing up (and still), I loved reading stories about the battle of “David and Goliath”, the ill-fated flight of Icarus, the heroic adventures of Perseus. I was fortunate to have a teacher who loved those stories even more than I did. His passion for these stories, mixed with his love of teaching, made the class the most memorable of my undergrad experience. Read more>>

Danielle Clardy

I am a Marketing kid and got my degree in Marketing from NC State University in Raleigh, NC. One of my favorite professors during my senior year, Patrice Nealon, would always say to us when discussing reaching out to businesses, companies, individuals, and higher-ups, what’s the worst they can say, no! I have lived by that in every single thing I have done with my business. Read more>>

Jeremiah Solomon

Here are my top three takeaways from my college experience as a music student. The first of which being that it is very Important to be respectful yet firm. There were times where I truly had to stand up for myself and my beliefs, which sounds easy enough. However, the climate really shifts when you have to settle a conflict of interest with a mentor or friend you hold lots of respect for. In the end, this principle has preserved relationships and increased their productivity all at once. Read more>>