Name: Jack Terrell
Major: International Business and Economics Minor: Chinese and German
Graduation Date: Spring 2018
In September 2018, Meredith Church-Pipes sat down with Jack Terrell to talk about how his experiences led him to pursue an International Business degree and what lessons he learned through his time in the program. Read the transcript below to learn more about Jack.
Interview Transcript:
Meredith Church Pipes: Well hello, Jack! We’re glad to have you here as one of our recent international business alums up visiting campus today. Thanks for being willing to do an interview with us.
Jack Terrell: Happy to be here.
Church Pipes: We wanted to ask you just a few questions to hear about what you experienced while you were here [at App State] and where that’s taking you in life currently. So, I wanted to find out if you could tell us a little bit more about your background, what your majors were, and what drew you to study international business.
Terrell: I majored in international business and economics with a minor in Chinese and German, and what drew me to study international business in particular was my interest in being able to travel as well as being able to support myself financially, and international business at App State offered the ability to have a job that would enable me to live and work internationally and teach me the skills I needed to do so.
Church Pipes: While you were here on campus, what were some of the international experiences that you took advantage of?
Terrell: I participated in two short-term study abroads: the first was to Costa Rica to learn the supply chain of the coffee industry in Costa Rica; this assisted me in my current supply chain career. We got to see from seed to cup, the process of growing, harvesting, pouring, and drinking the coffee. I also participated in a trip to Colombia with Dr. Martin Meznar, where we assisted in repairing wells in the Colombian Amazon. This taught me project management skills that I’ve been able to communicate in interviews with employers. I also did a semester abroad in China, where I improved on my Chinese language skills and learned about the culture, the food, and the lifestyle that China has to offer. I’ve also done an internship in Germany with a company called Hirschvogel, and that assisted me in my current role with BMW.
Church Pipes: So you’ve had a lot of opportunities! I’m glad you took advantage of as many possibilities as you could while you were here. How have these experiences influenced your current career path?
Terrell: My study abroad and internship experiences enabled me to leverage skills in supply chain, project management, language, and experience in intercultural environments as well as transferring different materials and processes across national boundaries. These are all things that came out of the internship and study abroad experiences, and their impact helped lead me to my current role with BMW manufacturing, where I’m currently a part of the EOMDP, or the Engineering and Operations Management Development Program, and I’m in my current rotation as a Financial and Strategic Planner.
Church Pipes: What would you say to students considering studying international business or, even if they’re a different business major, taking the opportunity to study abroad?
Terrell: Studying abroad challenges you in that it really encourages and humbles you to a certain extent. I would encourage anybody wanting to study abroad to observe before they start to speak, or write or take pictures; just observing the area that you’re in will teach you more about the people, the language, the culture, and it’s really taught me to do a lot more of that here in the US as well.