Student Spotlights
Build a foundation for success with a first-year business program like no other. The First-Year Integrated Core is your first step on the journey to career success.
Levi Grimm
It isn’t every day that a high school student enters college with the support of an international peace organization.
Co-founded by recent FYIC student Levi Grimm, JEE Foods is a “nonprofit food rescue organization that leverages the 40% of perfectly good food that goes to waste each year to feed those in need” by redistributing it to 70 non-profit organizations across three states. Levi is a part of the Fall 2021 FYIC class but operates the business with other students at Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, and students from his alma mater, Butler Tech/Ross High School.
Connor Andrews
Don’t fret next time your parents ask you to mow the lawn. Just hire this FYIC student!
Founded six years ago, RC Mowing is a mowing and landscaping company based in Dublin, OH. Connor Andrews, a co-founder, is currently in the FYIC and is studying Marketing.
When Connor was just in 7th grade, he and a buddy decided to mow their neighbors’ lawns for some extra cash. Little did he know, it would expand to a 10-household clientele with occasional side jobs. By the time he was a sophomore in high school, Connor was able to buy his own riding mower and trailer with the money he made from the past summers’ work. This was also the year he began marketing through NextDoor - a neighborhood app to keep residents in the know.
When he is not checking up on MarketGames, he is overseeing his business back home. Other than his brother, his main channel of communication is email. According to Connor, BUS102 has immensely improved his overall business communication skills when it comes to communicating with his clients, or potential clients, by teaching him how to maintain professionalism, establish goodwill, and recognize the rhetoric behind the email.
After this year, Connor plans on passing down the business to his little brother, while occasionally overseeing the business. If your family or friends are located in Dublin, OH and are looking for a landscaper, contact RC Mowing at rcmowing2016@gmail.com.
Emmy Garcia
When this FYIC student isn’t carving it up on the ice, she’s filming others doing just that.
Emmy Garcia, a first-year student studying information technology and film studies, founded EAP as a senior in high school. EAP is a video editing company that spotlights athletes, models, and friends. Although video editing just started as a hobby for Emmy, many viewers were catching on to her talent and began sending edit requests. Since high school, Emmy has gained numerous followers and clients, including some from Canada.
Before coming to Miami, Emmy decided to put EAP to the side and focus on her education and athletics. However, she says that ESP 103 with David Eyman made her realize that her business can become much more than just a side gig. Emmy also stated that she is extremely grateful for the business communication skills that she has developed in BUS102, seeing as most of her clients communicate with her via Instagram DM or email.
Going forward, Emmy is hoping to film in other industries, like concerts at bars in uptown Oxford. For some of Emmy’s edits, she even uses her own music that she produced through High Street Records. Along with EAP, she hopes to develop her music production skills during her time at Miami.
Check out Emmy’s videos or request an edit on her Instagram @hockeytm!
The FYIC taught me to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, which were two things I had always been intimidated by before. I now find myself gravitating towards projects that allow me to be creative, and I go after unfamiliar opportunities with excitement and an open mind.
Lauren, 2023
In the FYIC, professors make themselves available to coach students in achieving their full potential. The program has introduced me to some amazing peers who are still some of my closest friends.
Sophia, 2023
I learned how to work with people who have different personalities. In the FYIC, we work with other students who don’t understand information the same way, so we learned how to model the way we talk based on how other people understand and process info. It’s really cool just to build relationships with people who aren’t exactly like you.
Keagan, 2023
The FYIC program has impacted me in more ways than words can quantify—I was able to learn crucial kills that built the foundation of my business education; discover my passion for entrepreneurship; and it provided me with a close-knit support system of friends, colleagues, mentors, and instructors. There isn’t an interview that goes by where I don’t talk bout my FYIC experience.
Abigail, 2023
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