Student spotlight: Austin Peay experiences help Rebekah White realize, build on her dreams
(Posted on Friday, March 25, 2022)
Rebekah White
“I think the biggest thing about being at Austin Peay is the connections that you make. Just with the professors I know, they have taught me so much about marketing and the world of business.”
Name: Rebekah White
Major: Business Marketing
Minor: Dance
Graduation: May 2023
Hometown: Mount Juliet, Tennessee
Campus Involvement: PELP, Honor’s Program, Sustainability Club, RA at Eriksson Hall
Enrolling into a college was a great uncertainty for Rebekah White at first.
“I actually went back and forth a lot in high school as to whether or not I wanted to go to college,” she said. “I was maybe leaning towards the side of not going to college at all.”
White did not foresee the number of opportunities that would come her way at Austin Peay when she was still a high schooler. White’s true passion was to start a coffee catering company that holds a mission of helping children and families in the coffee farming industry.
At Austin Peay, she ultimately decided to pursue a business major to build foundational knowledge because White strongly believed that it would be crucial to start her dream business.
“I am unfortunately a chronic perfectionist. And so, I knew that this company would be something that I wanted to succeed and do really well,” she said.
White is thriving at Austin Peay and is considering going further in higher education.
“I’ve always loved learning. But doing it at a university level opened my eyes, and I was like, ‘I really like this,’” she said. “So now, of course, I’m looking at possibly getting my master’s and maybe eventually becoming a professor.”
White is also thrilled with the new opportunities she wouldn’t have considered before that have opened up to her. Austin Peay helped her meet with small business owners and nonprofits, for example.
“I think the biggest thing about being at Austin Peay is the connections that you make,” she said. “Just with the professors I know, they have taught me so much about marketing and the world of business.”
Related:
- Business Theatre student Amos has found endless opportunities following her passion at APSU.
- Ohio native Alexis Larkin finds a community away from home at APSU.
- Sierra Salandy keeps a busy schedule while looking toward her future and a future of more women involved in politics, law, and government.
One of White’s favorite hands-on experiences was developing a promotional strategy for a local nonprofit organization. Through a service-learning course at Austin Peay, White and her classmates worked with APSU graphic design students to create an end-of-year membership campaign for the Clarksville-Montgomery County Art and Heritage Development Council.
Not only that, but White found opportunities to explore her love of dance at APSU.
“At Austin Peay, during the spring of my sophomore year, I had the opportunity to teach a 55-minute class period on how individuals in the dance community can help integrate dance history into classes, which was an extra assignment that turned my class into an honors course,” she said.
White is pursuing a dance minor at Austin Peay and teaches a pre-ballet class of 3- and 4-year-olds at Adonai Arts Academy in Nashville.
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