Hartland High School graduate Andrew Flores began his academic journey at Lansing Community College. After two years, he chose to pursue his bachelor’s degree, but COVID hit, and he was faced with a whole new set of challenges. “I didn’t want to lose my educational momentum but where would my next stop be?” he thought.
Andrew decided to commute, and Cleary was close to home so he decided to check out the university. “I met with the admissions team and some faculty and found them friendly and full of resources to guide me in my next step toward a lucrative business career,” he finds.
“But what surprised me the most was how much I learned about myself while a student at Cleary,” he announces. “I was looking for a college that would provide me with an education that would allow me to become a prepared professional upon graduation. That is what connected me to Cleary.”
During his two years at the university as a digital marketing student, Andrew was impressed at how well the faculty taught him how to prioritize his future goals and prepare him for job interviews that did translate into a business career. Several months before graduation, Andrew secured a position with FedEx working as a sales representative.
Andrew attributes his success to the professors at Cleary. He notes Sherry Richards as one who made a huge impact on him. “She wore so many different hats – she is director of an orchestra and was the former CFO of a trucking company. “She was focused on making sure students knew that while the business world was multi-faceted, it was easy to navigate if we felt prepared, and Cleary definitely prepared me!”
Andrew’s short-term goal is to become a business-to-business development representative and later, he says confidently, “I want to start my own marketing firm.
“Cleary has given me hope and promise. It is where growth and experience happen. I started at Cleary as a 20-year-old kid, and I am leaving as a 24-year-old adult who didn’t expect to grow so much in such a short amount of time,” he reports. “Cleary taught me what I needed to become a young professional. They taught me to be the person I wanted to become.”
