Raven Tells Career Summit: ‘Don’t Marry Your Major’

Ryan Boh, class of 2014, the keynote speaker at the annual Benedictine College Career Summit, had great advice for the students who filled the college’s largest academic lecture hall at 9 am on a Saturday morning in January.

“Refrain from ‘marrying your college major,’ he said. “Don’t let it dictate your career.” Majors are Plan A. Often, a Plan B has to take the place of Plan A.

He had other advice as well. When you are less than a star early in your career, he said, “Embrace the suck. Not all roles are great, but they all offer us tremendous lessons about our strengths and weaknesses. More often than not, these lessons help us to grow in mysterious ways.”

He credited Benedictine College for his career and personal growth and was thankful for all that his professors and others did to invest in him to this day.

The Summit is the annual event of Benedictine College’s new emphasis on career placement. The Priority Two of the college’s new Strategic Plan is “Profession” and explains: “Transforming Culture in America will require leaders in the workplace and public life who inspire others to be committed to living the Gospel.”

It adds: “Benedictine College intends to advance its mission in every walk of life by providing internships, service and experiential learning opportunities, and career preparations … to place students in key positions.”

Boh was an example of how the college’s mission of community, faith and scholarship can help a student.

He originally visited the school as a tag-along with Denver friends who were coming to a Student Orientation weekend. He fell in love with the school and enrolled immediately.

He embraced the college’s community life by working in the Residence Life area, serving as a resident assistant in Newman Hall before heading to the college’s campus in Florence, Italy, where he managed the student life program for that remote location. His outgoing personality made him a popular RA whom students could easily approach. He also helped establish club lacrosse as a sport on the Benedictine campus.

In the “scholarship” area of the  mission of the school, he graduated with degrees in International Business and Management and he honed both disciplines as Projects Director for the Student International Business Council and as a member of the Enactus team that taught business classes in the Lansing State Correctional Facility before going on to win the regional Enactus competition.

In terms of the college’s faith life, he served during college as a missionary and as the director of diocesan outreach for Novuscor, a medical research and integrated care software company, working with over 190 religious organizations.

Director of Alumni Relations, Joanna Huey, has been positioning the college’s Raven Walk platform as a way for students to find help from mentors, and for mentors to help students.

The Career Summit used the Raven Walk to pick Boh to be this year’s Keynote speaker.

“Ryan did a great job and was very well received by the students,” she said. “We joked that the college’s motto is ‘Forward, Always Forward,’ but Ryan provided an important addition: ‘Follow up, Always Follow up’!”

Boh greatly appreciated the opportunity to connect with the students following in his footsteps. “It’s always a thrill to return to a place for which I credit much of my career and personal growth,” he said.