Profiles in Business Excellence: Penn State

Sarah Hohol, a 2007 Penn State Wilkes-Barre Bachelor of Science graduate, has found her niche in the business world, an accomplishment she credits not to the degree, but to the place she got it. “I remember my first day of college- being nervous and not knowing anyone,” she said. “But that feeling quickly went away with the intimate class sizes and enthusiastic professors at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. I could easily see they were teaching because of their love of business and their concern for the students.” “My interest in business really grew into something I loved in a short amount of time because of the interactive nature of the business classes,” she added. “These classes were not your typical out-of-the-book homework assignments, but rather marketing studies, focus groups, and management surveys.” Outside of class, Hohol said the Business Club quickly became a large part of her life and helped boost her budding interest in the business industry. “It taught us how to run an organization. We had plenty of guidance from our advisors, but enough freedom to let us learn on our own,” she said. “We had to work as a team and strategize to make the club profitable, charitable, and an overall success. This is something that you just cannot learn through reading but rather understand through real-world experiences, which is what this club gave me.” The BS in Business degree requires an internship outside of the required course work. Hohol took advantage of such an opportunity in her junior year with a leader in the online marketing arena, Pepperjam, where she was offered a full-time job in sales and marketing after graduating. “If it hadn’t been for the campus being an advocate for internships, I would not have gotten my first job,” Hohol said. “It really gave me many great business experiences and provided a stepping stone to my current jobs of Pharmaceutical Sales Representative at Daiichi Sankyo and a retail business advisor at a local boutique.” “I am proud to have a Penn State degree, not just for the opportunity to do what I love every day, but because I know the experiences have made me who I am today and who I will become in the future.”