Let Us Introduce UNK’s College of Business and Technology’s Ambassadors

Emily Conrad, Nathan Grabenstein, Molly Kiekel, Kailynn Rodewald, Isabella Townsend, and Cooper Witte all have one thing in common. These students represent what it means to be a UNK Loper. As CBT Ambassadors, they are presently practicing the leadership skills they will use in their future professions.

Emily Conrad, whose parents both attended the University of Nebraska at Kearney, explains how UNK “was always an option” for her. She appreciates the smaller student-to-teacher ratio where she is able to build connections with her professors. As she states, students like her are not “just one face in a large class” at UNK. Emily is a Business Administration with an emphasis in Management student who hopes to pursue a career in human resource management. She shares that she discovered her love for human resources while taking Dr. Luthans’ Human Resource Management class. 

As a senior, she has many memories she will be taking with her after she graduates. Being a member of the CBT Living Learning Community where she became a mentor during her sophomore year is one of her favorite memories. She understands that this “community is an amazing opportunity for incoming freshmen to get connected with other students who are pursuing similar degrees.” She shares how Small Business Management is one of her most memorable classes, one where she was able to work alongside others at Brewed Awakening. She credits this class and its emphasis on experiential learning for the chance to “work in teams and gain hands-on experience in a variety of areas like marketing, finance, HR, and product  development.” 

Nathan Grabenstein, who is a Kearney native, appreciates the way he “felt at home the moment (he) stepped on campus.” A Business Administration major with a Finance emphasis and a minor in Agribusiness, he chose these fields because he has “always been interested in agriculture and helping others.” 

Nathan is currently a junior who has been involved with the Agribusiness Club as well as Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity where students make it a priority to give back to the community. Through his involvement with these organizations, Nathan has had the chance to collaborate with others as well as enjoy life outside the classroom. Nathan plans to use his degree as he pursues a career in either Financial Advising or Agricultural Lending. 

Molly Kiekel, who is majoring in Interior and Product Design with a minor in Construction Management, appreciates how UNK is a place where “everyone genuinely cares about” students as people as well as their education. She explains how “UNK has an amazing Interior and Product Design program” and that she believes she will “be able to make an impact in people’s lives by using (her) creativity.” She hopes to have a career in the commercial design field, especially working on “big and diverse projects such as hospitals and luxury casinos.” 

Although Molly is only a junior, she is already thinking about how she will “be sad when it ends.” Among the UNK experiences she has enjoyed as a student, playing in dodgeball, sand volleyball, and broomball intramurals stand out as her favorites. She explains that she “tried to be involved as much as possible” while still handling her class load. She would encourage other students to get out of their comfort zones because doing activities they are scared of often “end up being the best experiences” and the ones they will learn the most from.

Kailynn Rodewald explains that she “ended up at UNK by a bit of a happy accident.” She originally planned to attend another school, but then she heard from one of her high school swim coaches that UNK had a swim team. It wasn’t long before Kailynn was touring the campus, meeting the swim team, and signing up to attend. She shares that “it has been one of the best decisions” she has ever made.

She is a junior majoring in Business Administration Comprehensive with an emphasis in Marketing and a minor in Entrepreneurship. Kailynn already owns and runs a home baking business where she specializes in wedding cakes and cupcakes. She believes her degree will “best help (her) to grow that business in the future.” Kailynn is “heavily involved in the College of Business and Technology.” She shares how, during her freshman year, she was a part of the Living Learning Community for CBT and later became a mentor for the new freshman students.

Isabella Townsend shares that she “chose UNK because it was only two hours away from home.” She was looking for a college with interior design and discovered that “UNK has a really good CIDA-accredited program.” Isabella also appreciates the many scholarship opportunities available for students.

A junior, Isabella explains that she is “currently exploring” what she wants to do with her degree. She chose her major in Interior and Product Design because she has always been “interested in design and art” and has known she “wanted to be an interior designer since fourth grade.” Being a sales product representative is a goal she has because she thinks it “would be fun to go into design centers and firms to show off new products and help designers use them.” She is grateful to have had the experience of designing an old downtown building in Franklin, Nebraska which she describes as “the most impactful project” she has worked on while a student at UNK. She describes how her team “made apartments for the top floor and two ADA-accessible apartments on the bottom floor” which resulted with their floor plans being used to help the community of Franklin win $750,000 in grants to actually create the apartments. She shares that “being from a small town” she was inspired by seeing life “brought back to old downtown buildings.”

Cooper Witte shares how he was interested in coming to UNK because he “really enjoyed the smaller campus environment and being able to have a smaller class size.” The support from his professors helped him on a personal level. He explains how the cybersecurity program was “something that (he) was really interested in” as well.

His major is in Cybersecurity Operations, something he explains he has enjoyed “from an early age.” He states he has “always loved working with computers and wanted to improve those skills in order to be able to help others stay safe online and to protect businesses from cyber attacks.” He plans to use the skills he learns at CBT to “help other people and businesses function better in this tech-heavy era.” 

Currently a junior, Cooper shares that his “experience here at UNK has been amazing so far” and how “being a part of the Learning Living Community (his) freshman year really opened up many other opportunities” for him to “connect with other students here on campus.” During his freshman year, he also joined the UNK eSports team which he describes as a “fun organization.” With classes that have been “very enjoyable experiences” for him, he is grateful for the hands-on work and labs which he states help him to “retain information better.”

For these students, who have represented UNK well as CBT Ambassadors, their college experience has provided them with a place to grow academically and personally while they have learned to work with others and give back. For these students, the future is bright. Everyone at UNK is proud of their collective accomplishments.