I love the confidence I get when doing different activities in business such as presenting, interviewing and working in a group setting and I love that I could apply those abilities to connect with people to basically any job.”
Melanie Vanness always felt that Concordia was a safe place to be. She has been familiar with Concordia University Nebraska since her youth group visited her freshman year of high school, and the familiar feelings have only grown with time. Melanie has grown right along with it.
Melanie’s time at Concordia has not been without its changes. Melanie started as a Business Administration major with a Marketing concentration. She then worked in the athletic training department as a student worker and wanted to give biology a try. She then realized that biology was not the right option for her. “I don’t really regret my time in the science department, because you do not really know until you try things.”
Throughout her time switching her majors, Melanie was working through other various struggles in her life. Over Christmas break freshman year, she worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant in the nursing home in her hometown. “It was very difficult, and there was a lot of sadness and death.”
Melanie experienced great grace from her professors after getting back to school. “After I came back to school, I didn’t have time to process anything, and I failed the first few tests. My professors in the business department encouraged me to work harder while being understanding that I was going through a difficult time. I remember when I did a lot better on an accounting test, Dr. Langewisch wrote ‘Great improvement!’ on the top of my paper. It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but that really changed things for me.”
The next semester, Melanie decided to switch back to business because she realized that the major was very versatile. “I realized that I could meld my love of business and athletics. I love the confidence I get when doing different activities in business such as presenting, interviewing and working in a group setting and I love that I could apply those abilities to connect with people to basically any job.”
Melanie chiefly attributes her growth as a person to her relationship with God. “I don’t know how to explain it, but after that hard time, God brought me back. I allowed myself to feel the hard emotions and then let them pass, but mostly I trusted God. I’m going to keep doing that.”